Honestly, whenever people start arguing about the GOAT, they usually point to a massive leaderboard. You've seen it. LeBron James is sitting up there at the peak with over 40,000 points. Kareem is right there too. But then you get to Michael Jordan all time points and you see a number that feels… a little low?
32,292 points.
That’s the number. It currently puts him 5th on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring list. For some of the younger fans, that might look like a "settle for less" stat compared to the longevity of modern stars. But if you actually look at how he got those points—and the absurd chunks of time he just walked away from the game—the total starts to look a lot more terrifying.
Michael Jordan All Time Points: The Breakdown of a Scoring Machine
Jordan played 1,072 regular-season games. To put that in perspective, LeBron has played hundreds more. If Jordan had just stayed on the court instead of playing baseball or retiring (twice), we’d be talking about a number north of 40,000 without a doubt.
His career scoring average is 30.1 points per game. That is the highest in NBA history. Basically, if Michael Jordan showed up to the arena, you were penciling in 30 points before the tip-off even happened. He didn't have "off nights" in the way we think of them now. In the 1986-87 season, he averaged 37.1 points. Think about that for a second. That isn't a video game glitch; that was a human being in the 80s against guys who were allowed to actually hit you in the paint.
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Where the points came from:
- Chicago Bulls: 29,277 points
- Washington Wizards: 3,015 points
- Playoff points (The real stuff): 5,987 points
If you combine his regular season and playoffs, you get a grand total of 38,279 career points. It’s still 5th all-time in combined scoring, trailing LeBron, Kareem, Karl Malone, and Kobe Bryant. But Jordan did it in the fewest games of that top group. He was the "hare" in the race, sprinting at a pace nobody else could maintain.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Wizards Years
People love to joke about the "Old Man Jordan" era in D.C., but the guy was still a bucket. Even at 38 and 39 years old, he was dropping 20 points a night. Most players at that age are strictly "locker room presence" guys or shooting 3-pointers from the corner.
Jordan was still taking people to the mid-range and schooling them. Those 3,015 points he scored for the Wizards actually kept him in the top 5. Without them, he’d be sitting behind Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain. It wasn't the peak "Air Jordan" we remember from the 90s, but it was a masterclass in how to score when your knees don't want to jump over a phone book anymore.
The 10 Scoring Titles
You can't talk about his point total without mentioning that he led the league in scoring 10 times. That’s a record that feels pretty much unbreakable. Wilt has seven. Durant and Gervin have four. To be the best scorer in the world for a decade—while also being an All-Defensive First Team player—is just mental. It shows that he wasn't just piling up points because he was the only option; he was doing it because nobody could stop him.
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The Playoff Factor: Where MJ Was Truly Different
In the post-season, Jordan’s average actually went up. Most players see their efficiency dip when the defense gets tighter in May and June. Jordan went from 30.1 in the regular season to 33.4 points per game in the playoffs.
He still holds the record for the most points in a single playoff game: 63 points against a legendary Celtics team in 1986. Larry Bird famously said it was "God disguised as Michael Jordan." That game happened in his second year. He hadn't even reached his prime yet.
If we look at the pure volume of Michael Jordan all time points in the playoffs, he’s second only to LeBron James. But again, look at the games played. Jordan scored nearly 6,000 playoff points in just 179 games. LeBron took significantly longer to pass that mark. It’s the difference between a high-volume shooter and a player who was essentially a scoring force of nature.
Why the Total Points Number Is Misleading
If you want to understand why MJ is still the gold standard for many, you have to look at the "What If" factor.
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- The 1985-86 Foot Injury: He missed 64 games. That’s roughly 1,800 points gone right there if he averages his usual 28-30.
- The First Retirement (1993-1995): He missed a season and a half to play baseball. That’s easily 4,000+ points left on the table.
- The Second Retirement (1998-2001): He was still the best player in the world when he hit the game-winner in Utah. He sat out three full seasons in his late 30s.
Add those up, and you’re looking at about 8,000 to 9,000 points that just... evaporated. If Michael Jordan had the iron-man longevity of a modern athlete with 2026-era sports medicine, he’d likely be sitting at 45,000 points.
Actionable Insights for Basketball Fans
When you're comparing Michael Jordan all time points to the stars of today, keep these three things in mind to stay factually grounded:
- Look at Points Per Game (PPG), not just totals. Totals reward longevity; PPG rewards dominance. MJ still owns the regular season (30.1) and playoff (33.4) PPG records.
- Account for the era. Jordan played during the "Hand Check" era. Defenders could literally put their hands on you to steer you away from the basket. Scoring 30 then was arguably harder than scoring 35 now with the current spacing and officiating.
- Check the efficiency. Despite being a "volume shooter," Jordan shot 49.7% from the field for his career. For a guard who took a lot of mid-range jumpers, that is incredibly efficient.
To really appreciate the scale of his scoring, go back and watch the 1993 Finals against Phoenix. He averaged 41.0 points for the entire series. That wasn't just "getting points"—it was a total refusal to let his team lose.
Next time you see the all-time scoring list, remember that the guy in 5th place took three vacations during his prime and still managed to leave a permanent dent in the record books.