Basketball fans love an argument. Put three people in a room and ask who the GOAT is, and you’ll get four different answers and maybe a chair thrown. But when we look at the all time leaders nba lists, the math is supposed to be the final word. It isn't. Not really.
Numbers lie. Or rather, they omit.
When LeBron James finally tracked down Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record on that Tuesday night in February 2023, it felt like the world shifted. People forget that for nearly four decades, Kareem’s 38,387 points was considered a "forever" record. It was the North Star. Then a kid from Akron with a receding hairline and a 20-year obsession with excellence just… walked past it.
The Scoring King and the Ghost of Longevity
LeBron James didn't just break the record; he's currently busy making it impossible for anyone else to touch it. He's passed 40,000 points. Think about that. To even sniff that territory, a player has to average 25 points per game for 20 straight seasons without missing significant time. It's stupid. It’s actually kind of ridiculous when you say it out loud.
But does being the leader in total points make him the greatest scorer? That's where the nuance kicks in. Kevin Durant might be the most "effortless" scorer we've ever seen. Michael Jordan has the highest career scoring average at 30.1. Wilt Chamberlain once averaged 50.4 points for an entire season because he was basically a giant playing against accountants and guys who worked at the post office in the offseason.
Context matters. The all time leaders nba in scoring tells a story of survival. It’s about who stayed healthy. Who kept their body as a temple? Who avoided the catastrophic ACL tear? Kareem did it with the skyhook—a shot that is basically unguardable and, more importantly, low impact on the joints. LeBron does it with modern sports science and a billion-dollar investment in his own biology.
Dropping Dimes: The Floor Generals
If scoring is about ego and power, assists are about vision. John Stockton is the statistical anomaly that breaks every "who is the best" model. He has 15,806 assists.
📖 Related: Why Netball Girls Sri Lanka Are Quietly Dominating Asian Sports
The gap between Stockton and second-place Jason Kidd is nearly 4,000.
To put that in perspective, Chris Paul—who is a literal wizard and has played for what feels like 100 years—is still thousands of assists behind. Stockton played 19 seasons and missed only 22 games. Total. He was a metronome in short shorts. People look at the assist leaders and realize that Stockton’s record is arguably more "unbreakable" than the scoring record.
You also have to look at Magic Johnson. Magic is 7th on the total list, but he’s 1st in assists per game. He retired early because of his HIV diagnosis. If he hadn't? The record books would look completely different. This is the part of the all time leaders nba discussion that gets messy. We are comparing totals against averages, and careers cut short by tragedy against careers extended by modern medicine.
The Glass Cleaners and the Forgotten Giants
Rebounding is a different beast. This list is dominated by the prehistoric era of basketball. Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
- Wilt Chamberlain: 23,924
- Bill Russell: 21,620
Nobody is ever catching them. Seriously. In the 1960s, teams missed a lot more shots, and the pace of the game was erratic. Today, if a player gets 20 rebounds in a game, it's a headline. For Wilt, that was a "down" Tuesday.
Modern players like Dwight Howard or Rudy Gobert are great, but they aren't sniffing 20,000. The game has changed. Long rebounds from three-point misses go to guards. Big men are pulled out to the perimeter to defend. The "stat sheet" for rebounding is essentially a closed book for the top two spots. It’s a relic of a different sport played on the same hardwood.
👉 See also: Why Cumberland Valley Boys Basketball Dominates the Mid-Penn (and What’s Next)
Defending the Rim: The Block Party
We didn't even start counting blocks until the 1973-74 season. That's a massive asterisk.
Hakeem Olajuwon sits at the top with 3,830 blocks. "The Dream" was a masterpiece of footwork and timing. But ask anyone who watched the 60s, and they’ll tell you Bill Russell probably had 5,000 blocks. We just don't know.
Among active or recent players, nobody is really threatening Hakeem. Defensive schemes have changed. You can't just camp in the paint anymore because of defensive three-second violations. Plus, everyone shoots threes now. You can't block a shot that’s being taken from 30 feet away as easily as a layup.
Why We Care About All Time Leaders NBA Stats
Honestly, these lists are just a way for us to measure our own lives. We remember where we were when Kobe passed MJ. We remember the shock of seeing Steph Curry turn the three-point record into his own personal playground.
Speaking of Steph, he’s the only leader who is currently "live-coding" his record. Every three-pointer he makes expands a lead that might never be closed. He changed the geometry of the court. Before Steph, the three-point leader was Ray Allen, a specialist. Now, the leader is the system itself.
The Nuance of the "Per Game" Argument
If you want to sound smart at a bar, don't just talk about totals. Talk about averages.
✨ Don't miss: What Channel is Champions League on: Where to Watch Every Game in 2026
- Scoring: Jordan and Wilt are tied at the top.
- Assists: Magic Johnson (11.2).
- Rebounds: Wilt (22.9—which is insane).
Totals reward the grinders. Averages reward the peaks. The all time leaders nba lists usually favor the guys who could sustain 90% of their greatness for two decades rather than 100% of their greatness for five years.
What’s Next for the Record Books?
We are in an era of "positionless" basketball. Victor Wembanyama is a 7-foot-4 alien who can dribble and shoot. Will he challenge the block record? Maybe. But the pace of the game and the focus on player "load management" means players might not play enough games to hit these massive career totals anymore.
LeBron might be the last of the "Iron Men." We’re seeing more rest, more caution, and more specialized roles.
If you want to track this effectively, don't just look at the NBA.com leaderboard. Use sites like Basketball-Reference to look at "Adjusted" stats. See how these numbers look when you account for the pace of the 80s versus the snail-crawl of the early 2000s.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
To truly understand the greatness of these leaders, do three things:
- Watch the "Big Three" Eras: Compare highlights of the 1960s (Wilt), 1990s (Jordan/Stockton), and 2020s (LeBron/Steph). Notice how much more space is on the floor now.
- Look at Minutes Played: Total points divided by total minutes gives you a better idea of efficiency. Some guys "compiled" stats; others dominated every second they were on the floor.
- Ignore the "Empty Calories" Argument: People say some players got stats on bad teams. At the NBA level, there are no easy buckets. Leading a category for a career requires a level of discipline that is almost superhuman.
The record books are living documents. They aren't static. Every time a rookie steps on the floor, they are technically starting their climb toward these giants. Even if they never get close, the pursuit is what makes the league worth watching.