(Originally posted on Monday, 2 August 2021)
The present post features the lists of most productive NBA careers according to my calculations done after the end of the 2020-21 season. The in-depth explanations can be found here:
The most productive NBA careers
All the data I used to create the present post I found on this site:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/
Unfortunately the awesome player finder on this site isn't working anymore (it now redirects you to another site that is paid and I am not going to pay for such things). It means that now I have to gather the data in a much more time-consuming way.
I was tempted to give you per-game values based on total values, but that would be a waste of my time – we shouldn't compare averages from 1500 games with averages from 900 games. That would be ridiculous! This is why any GOAT values should be based on career peaks (with the same number of games).
On the playoffs list there are two players that were VERY good, but nowhere near the GOAT status in any way – Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili. This is another example that any GOAT values should be based on career peaks (with the same number of games).
The most productive NBA careers in regular seasons from 1977-78 to 2020-21:
1. Karl Malone: 35883.1 (number of games: 1476)
2. LeBron James*: 35711.2 (number of games: 1310)
3. Dirk Nowitzki: 31776.6 (number of games: 1522)
4. Kevin Garnett: 30420.3 (number of games: 1462)
5. Michael Jordan: 30013.8 (number of games: 1072)
6. Hakeem Olajuwon: 29818.4 (number of games: 1238)
7. Tim Duncan: 29707.4 (number of games: 1392)
8. Kobe Bryant: 29476.1 (number of games: 1346)
9. Shaquille O'Neal: 28149.7 (number of games: 1207)
10. John Stockton: 27667.1 (number of games: 1504)
11. Moses Malone: 26528.1 (number of games: 1247)
12. Charles Barkley: 26408.5 (number of games: 1073)
13. Robert Parish: 25349.7 (number of games: 1534)
14. Paul Pierce: 24884.9 (number of games: 1343)
15. Patrick Ewing: 24881.6 (number of games: 1183)
16. Chris Paul**: 24623.1 (number of games: 1090)
17. Jason Kidd: 24397.7 (number of games: 1391)
18. Larry Bird: 23946.6 (number of games: 897)
19. Vince Carter: 23934.6 (number of games: 1541)
20. David Robinson: 23813.4 (number of games: 987)
* Previously LeBron James was also 2nd.
** Previously Chris Paul wasn't on the list.
Karl Malone is still hanging on! He was insanely durable and at the same time he was of near GOAT level. However, in just one year LeBron James should be at the top of the list.
Reggie Miller (23684.8) was pushed out of the list by Chris Paul.
The 7 players closest to the list who played in the season 2020-21 are:
Carmelo Anthony: 23458.5
Kevin Durant: 23257.5
James Harden: 22031.4
Dwight Howard: 21990.9
Russell Westbrook: 21909.7
LaMarcus Aldridge: 19714.2
Stephen Curry: 19097.4
The most productive NBA careers in playoffs from 1978 to 2021:
1. LeBron James*: 7792.3 (number of games: 266)
2. Tim Duncan: 5645.9 (number of games: 251)
3. Michael Jordan: 5406.2 (number of games: 179)
4. Magic Johnson: 4983.6 (number of games: 190)
5. Shaquille O'Neal: 4972.3 (number of games: 216)
6. Kobe Bryant: 4862.0 (number of games: 220)
7. Karl Malone: 4392.6 (number of games: 193)
8. Larry Bird: 4328.3 (number of games: 164)
9. Kevin Durant**: 4234.4 (number of games: 151)
10. Hakeem Olajuwon: 4040.9 (number of games: 145)
11. Scottie Pippen: 3920.4 (number of games: 208)
12. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 3731.8 (number of games: 169)
13. Dirk Nowitzki: 3649.4 (number of games: 145)
14. Dwyane Wade: 3582.8 (number of games: 177)
15. Tony Parker: 3280.8 (number of games: 226)
16. John Stockton: 3259.8 (number of games: 182)
17. Kevin McHale: 3242.2 (number of games: 169)
18. James Harden***: 3180.1 (number of games: 137)
19. Charles Barkley: 3152.0 (number of games: 123)
20. Manu Ginóbili: 3128.9 (number of games: 218)
* Previously LeBron James was also 1st.
** Previously Kevin Durant was 11th.
*** Previously James Harden wasn't on the list.
Clyde Drexler (3110.3) was pushed out of the list by James Harden.
The 7 players closest to the list who played in the season 2019-20 are:
Kawhi Leonard: 3110.9
Chris Paul: 2998.9
Stephen Curry: 2953.4
Russell Westbrook: 2569.1
Draymond Green: 2333.6
Dwight Howard: 2213.7
Rajon Rondo: 2145.3
Now let's combine regular seasons with playoffs, which will lead us to the final list.
The most productive NBA careers (regular seasons and playoffs combined) from 1977-78 to 2019-21:
1. LeBron James*: 43503.5 (number of games: 1576)
2. Karl Malone: 40275.7 (number of games: 1669)
3. Dirk Nowitzki: 35426.0 (number of games: 1667)
4. Michael Jordan: 35420.0 (number of games: 1251)
5. Tim Duncan: 35353.4 (number of games: 1643)
6. Kobe Bryant: 34338.0 (number of games: 1566)
7. Hakeem Olajuwon: 33859.4 (number of games: 1383)
8. Kevin Garnett: 33329.5 (number of games: 1605)
9. Shaquille O'Neal: 33121.9 (number of games: 1423)
10. John Stockton: 30926.9 (number of games: 1686)
11. Charles Barkley: 29560.5 (number of games: 1196)
12. Moses Malone: 28448.4 (number of games: 1329)
13. Robert Parish: 28301.7 (number of games: 1708)
14. Larry Bird: 28274.9 (number of games: 1061)
15. Magic Johnson: 27876.2 (number of games: 1096)
16. Paul Pierce: 27867.3 (number of games: 1513)
17. Patrick Ewing: 27701.8 (number of games: 1322)
18. Chris Paul**: 27622.0 (number of games: 1219)
19. Jason Kidd: 27130.9 (number of games: 1549)
20. David Robinson: 26360.9 (number of games: 1110)
* Previously LeBron James was also 1st.
** Previously Chris Paul wasn't on the list.
Reggie Miller (26290.4) was pushed out of the list by Chris Paul.
The 7 players closest to the list who played in the season 2019-20 are:
James Harden: 25211.5
Carmelo Anthony: 25018.1
Russell Westbrook: 24478.8
Dwight Howard: 24204.6
Stephen Curry: 22050.8
LaMarcus Aldridge: 21120.9
Andre Iguodala: 18429.3
Please, notice that Michael Jordan is 4th with a much smaller number of games played than the rest of the top-10 players.
Karl Malone is second, so this is definitely NOT a GOAT list.
The newest GOAT values based on career peaks are in this post:
The NBA GOAT list after the season 2020-21
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