If you’re arguing about the greatest of all time in a barbershop or a toxic group chat, points are usually the first thing thrown on the table. But the regular season is one thing. The playoffs? That's where the air gets thin. When we talk about nba postseason scoring leaders, we aren't just looking at guys who can get a bucket on a Tuesday night in February against a lottery team. We’re talking about the players who actually showed up when the scouting reports were three inches thick and every possession felt like a chess match.
Honestly, the list is a bit weirder than you’d think. You've got the obvious names like LeBron and MJ, sure. But then you look at the gap between first and second place and it starts to look like a glitch in the matrix.
The King and the Ghost of Chicago
Let’s just get the elephant in the room out of the way. LeBron James hasn't just topped the list of nba postseason scoring leaders; he’s basically built a skyscraper on top of it. As of January 2026, LeBron is sitting on a staggering 8,289 playoff points. To put that in perspective, Michael Jordan is in second place with 5,987.
That is a gap of over 2,300 points.
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Basically, you could take a Hall of Famer's entire playoff career—someone like Jayson Tatum, who already has nearly 3,000 points—and add it to Jordan's total, and they still wouldn't catch LeBron. It’s a volume stat, yeah. LeBron has played in 287 playoff games (and counting, somehow, at age 41). Jordan played 179. If you want to argue about who was the better "pure" scorer, you look at the averages. Jordan is still the king of the per-game hill at 33.4 points per game. But for sheer, unrelenting production over two decades? It's LeBron's world.
The Elite 5,000 Club
Only a handful of human beings have ever crossed the 5,000-point threshold in the playoffs. It’s a tiny, exclusive club:
- LeBron James: 8,289 points
- Michael Jordan: 5,987 points
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 5,762 points
- Kobe Bryant: 5,640 points
- Shaquille O'Neal: 5,250 points
- Tim Duncan: 5,172 points
Kevin Durant is currently knocking on the door with 4,985 points. He’s likely going to pass Tim Duncan and Shaq by the time the 2026 playoffs wrap up, assuming the Rockets (his current home in this 2025-26 season) make a deep run. It’s wild to think that KD is still this high up despite some of the injuries that sidelined him in his prime.
Why the Averages Tell a Different Story
If we’re being real, looking at total points can be a bit misleading. It rewards staying healthy and being on good teams. If you want to know who the defense was actually most terrified of, you have to look at points per game (PPG).
Luka Dončić is the name that should scare everyone. He’s currently sitting at second all-time in playoff PPG with 30.9. He’s only 26 years old. He's trailing Jordan’s 33.4, but he’s already ahead of legends like Allen Iverson (29.7) and Kevin Durant (29.3).
The crazy thing about Luka is how he gets those points. It’s not through elite athleticism or "dunking on your head" energy. It's just a slow, methodical dismantling of your spirit. He’s currently with the Lakers in 2026, and his postseason trajectory suggests he could eventually threaten the 5,000-point club if his usage rate stays this high.
Then there’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In the 2025-26 season, he's been leading the league in scoring, and his playoff average of 31.6 PPG (though in a smaller sample size) shows that the new generation isn't just "kinda" good—they’re historically efficient.
The "One-Hit Wonders" and Single-Game Monsters
Sometimes the nba postseason scoring leaders aren't the guys with the most rings. Sometimes it’s just one guy having the night of his life.
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We all remember Michael Jordan’s 63 points against the Celtics in '86. Larry Bird famously said it was "God disguised as Michael Jordan." That record still stands. But look at the names right behind him. Elgin Baylor dropped 61 in a Finals game. Donovan Mitchell put up 57 in the "Bubble" playoffs.
Jimmy Butler? He’s got a 56-point playoff game.
Charles Barkley? 56.
It's actually pretty funny when you look at the single-game leaders. Kobe Bryant’s playoff high was "only" 50. LeBron’s is 51. It just goes to show that the guys at the very top of the career list aren't necessarily the ones hunting for 60 every night; they're the ones giving you 28 to 32 every single time they step on the floor for 20 years.
Active Players Climbing the Ranks
While the old guard is mostly retired, a few active players are sprinting up the list. Jayson Tatum is already at 2,936 points. He’s only 27. At his current pace, he could reasonably finish his career in the top five. Nikola Jokić is another one to watch. He’s at 2,580 points but his efficiency is what's terrifying. He doesn't take 30 shots, yet he ends up with 30 points almost by accident because he's shooting 55% from the field.
What Most People Miss: The "Dead Ball" Era
You can't talk about nba postseason scoring leaders without acknowledging how much the game has changed. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s—the "Dead Ball" era—scores were like 82-78. When Kobe and Shaq were winning titles, 30 points in a playoff game was a massive deal.
Nowadays, with the pace and the three-point shooting, teams are regularly dropping 120. This makes LeBron’s lead even more insane. He played through both eras. He was scoring in the mud during those 2007 Cleveland runs, and he’s still scoring in the track-meet style of 2026.
If you want to truly evaluate these players, you have to look at their "Points Produced" or their scoring relative to the league average. But for the sake of the record books, a bucket is a bucket.
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Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're tracking these stats to see who the next big thing is, keep your eyes on the following trends:
- Watch the 3,000-point mark: This is the threshold where a player moves from "great scorer" to "all-time playoff legend." Jayson Tatum is the next to cross it.
- Don't ignore the play-in: Technically, play-in games don't count toward "postseason" stats yet in the official NBA record book. LeBron would have even more points if they did.
- Efficiency vs. Volume: When comparing nba postseason scoring leaders, always look at Field Goal Percentage. A guy like Kawhi Leonard (3,133 points) might have fewer total points than some, but his scoring "gravity" in the playoffs is often higher because he rarely misses a mid-range jumper when it counts.
The 2026 playoffs are right around the floor, and with the way the league is tilted toward offense, we might see some of these "unbreakable" records start to look a little more vulnerable. Well, except for LeBron's 8,000. That one is probably safe until our grandkids are watching the league.
To stay ahead of the curve, keep an eye on the official NBA active leaders list. The rankings shift every single night during the months of April, May, and June. If Kevin Durant stays healthy through this spring, he’s the next name to make a massive jump into the top five of all time.