NBA records which will never be broken

[FuShengTHEGreat]

Not necessarily a "record"...but the 1993-94 & 1994-95 seasons the top 3 regular season scorers were Centers.

Has never happened before or since in NBA history.

[G35]

The one thing that could change how we view a lot of this is if breakthroughs get made about how we age. I mean we are seeing this already with LeBron to some degree. If 10-20 years from now guys are playing as well at 36 as they did at 26 and can play till they are 45 then some of these records will fall. For all we know now Luka may end up playing until he's 50 and have a 20 year long prime. Which might mean he ends up with 50k points and 20k assists and 2200 games played. Wilt's 48.5 and 50.4 seem like the two hardest to be broken. I mean how often do guys even play 48 minutes in a single game anymore? Almost only if its double ot or a game 7.

Good point, just for context there have been 86 seasons in NBA history when someone 38 or older played more than 700 minutes.

66 occurred this century.
27 occurred in the last ten years.

I think it is a product of several things.

First, the average person in the developed eats way worse than 50 years ago due to the increase in sugar consumption and other garbage food. This is an underdiscussed fact you can see in the obesity/diabetes rates. I'm not attacking people here I have a sweet tooth I'm trying to kick.

But the average athlete eats a lot better now than in the past. There is just a lot more knowledge about nutrition now. And teams/athletes have greater incentives now to follow proper diets than in the past. The potential profits/salaries are just much higher now.

I'm not sure how much more improvements are available on this front.

Second, medicine is consistently getting better. As example, Penny's career never would have been nuked by arthroscopic surgery. It is a common surgery now. Duncan lost more athleticism from his torn lateral meniscus in 2000 than he would have now.

I suspect we will see consistent improvements here. As societies get richer we spend more and more money on improving medicine.

Third, performance enhancing drugs. I'm fine with em. I know a lot of fans hate em. I think they've been ubiqutious forever but similar to medicine each generation gets a better batch of drugs.

Fourth, training keeps getting better. I suspect trainers have figured out ways to reduce the number of injuries.

Fifth, load management. A lot of fans hate load management of players. They are silly. The decision of teams to not have players crank out 40mpg/81gp seasons may mean fans get the occasional games without stars. For me that isn't a problem I can enjoy a game even if most of the marquees names are out. But even if you watch basketball only for the stars you still get more seasons on the back end with the occasional resting of players.

I agree with you and I agree that people should not take some things personal...it is just information.

However, for all of the advancements we have made in medicine, technology, and training techniques...I think we have lost in mental fortitude, values, and desire.

- How many players today will even play 82 games at 30+ per minutes....whether due to rest management or off the court issues, players do not play as much. Lebron is playing at high level but he's also playing less games, look at his games played since he got to the Lakers:
2019 - 55
2020 - 67
2021 - 45
2022 - 65 games and that is if he plays all 11 games for the rest of the season

- Pride and commitment to team/teammates/fans...players in the past felt an obligation to play. There was no question that the regular season meant something and playing every game was important.

- Injuries that players would play with in the past, players do not play with now. I notice it the most with top tier players. Barkley played the 1993 finals with an elbow injury; he had to have it drained before G3 of the series. Isiah Thomas playing on a sprained ankle in the finals. These were not unusual occurrences...it was expected that they would play through the pain. Yes, there are likely long term effects, but imo, they would do it again. Because it was different mentality back then.

Imo, I think fans, players, media (well I don't know about the media nowadays) appreciate the determination and grit a player has to have to play through an injury and play well. Not every player did that, we know about Scottie Pippen and the migraine game...but how many historical moments were due to a player playing when not at his best:

- Willis Reed inspiring the Knicks to victory over the Lakers is a top 10 finals moment
- Isiah Thomas setting a scoring 25pts in the 3rd quarter of G6 in the finals
- Michael Jordan and the flu game
- Jalen Rose putting his foot and spraining Kobe's ankle in the 2000 finals causing him to miss G3, but Kobe came back

Those are all time great moments and they were created due to unfortunate injuries. But what makes them even better is that the players were not at their best...they did have to go to a deeper level to overcome the injury.

I think the modern fan feels, "Hey, these are amazing athletes, why shouldn't we see them at their best all the time. That's the whole point."

Coming from previous generation, that is what is irritating is that its not about seeing athletes at their best all the time. That is the point of the regular season, can you be the best over the 82 game grind, and then get through the playoffs. That is the true measure. It is a battle of attrition.

I think that is what turns me off to these recent stars is that they are great frontrunners....they are great when everyone is healthy, the team is playing well, posting videos on social media...its all great fun. But then as soon as a losing streak comes along...someone gets hurt...they get tired....off the court drama...fans start heckling. Then it all falls apart.

That is when you see how someone handles adversity...essentially the heroes journey. It sounds like a lot of fans just want to watch a male Mary Sue.....

[The Laker Kid]

Gregg Popovich's fastest coach to be ejected at 63 seconds. They don't make coaches like him anymore.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

Jerry Wests 46.3ppg average vs Baltimore in the 1965 playoffs.

Not impossible.....but very difficult to surpass.

[bstein14]

Kobe's 81 points by a guard.

Players get hot in the 3 point era and have the green light to shoot 20+ 3s. I think a single game record like that is doable. We saw a very young Booker hit 70+ in a game.

[Eric Bieniemy]

AC Green - 1,192 consecutive games played

The more impressive AC Green record is him staying celibate for 16 NBA seasons including many years hanging out with Magic. Can't see this true ironman record ever being broken.

Can't help but think there's a correlation between the two. Perhaps abstaining from the energy expenditure of sex allowed his body to become consistently strong enough to not get injured and miss games.

Hold your seed, fellas.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Breaking Chamberlain's 100 PTS is pretty much common knowledge.

But I think the one NBA record that will never be broken: a team coming back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. Record is currently at 0-143.

[SkyHookFTW]

Breaking Chamberlain's 100 PTS is pretty much common knowledge.

But I think the one NBA record that will never be broken: a team coming back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. Record is currently at 0-143.

It happened once in MLB and four times in NHL. It's very rare, but we will see a team come back from 0-3 before we see a player average 48.5 minutes a game for an entire season.

[Pennebaker]

6-0 in the Finals

6 Finals MVPs

with the SAME team.

No one is doing that again, esp in this Player Empowerment era....

The problem with that is Phil Jackson. Was Jordan a system player? He didn't prove himself like Tom Brady did in Tampa. Phil Jackson has a lot more rings than Jordan.

Bill Russell is 11-1 in the NBA Finals and he won 9 as a player and 2 more as a player-coach. That's more impressive.

[rtiff68]

Another “not a record, but very unlikely to ever be repeated”…

In 2016, Steph Curry won his 2nd straight MVP. He also finished 4th in the voting for “Most Improved Player.”

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2016.html

Think about that for a minute.

We will certainly have back-to-back MVPs in the future, but will we ever see a player be a finalist for “Most Improved” the year AFTER he won MVP?

Wild.

[dhsilv2]

Honestly I think Stockton's Assists/steals will not be broken in my lifetime (forever is a really long time). Since he has set those records no one has even come close to threating them.


Also Wilt's rebounding record.....for reference, he has nearly 10k more rebounds than the most recent active player to crack the top 10, which is KG in ninth place. Dwight is the only active player in the top 10 and he's catching up KG, but still is also around 9k short.

The steal record imo is breakable. There's no way you can break those rebound records, teams are just too good, and pace I can't imagine getting that insane again.

I can't see stockton's assists being touched but at least that wasn't set in a crazy different era that crazy different pace and other factors (field goal percentages) skewing it.

[dhsilv2]

Wilt's season averages feel impossible to accomplish now

Yeah, even though pace is way up, it's still nowhere close to where it was in the 60's.

And much lower field goal percentages, and of course no long shots so all the rebounds tended to fall forwards the big men. Also...you didn't have these athletic wings crashing the boards like today. Sure you had big men competition then but you didn't have the westbrook types.

[dhsilv2]

Honestly I think Stockton's Assists/steals will not be broken in my lifetime (forever is a really long time). Since he has set those records no one has even come close to threating them.


Also Wilt's rebounding record.....for reference, he has nearly 10k more rebounds than the most recent active player to crack the top 10, which is KG in ninth place. Dwight is the only active player in the top 10 and he's catching up KG, but still is also around 9k short.

Crazy because if Rondo stayed relevant this entire time he would probably be close as hell!


He has 7560 for his career. If he never left Boston I say he breaks that record. His career took a major downfall following his departure from Boston.

Rondo's best assist season was 839 total assists. Stockton has 15,806 total.

15806/839=18.84

He'd need 19 seasons at his BEST to break stockton. So no, he wouldn't.

[dhsilv2]

stockton récords are more doable than people think imo, Chris Paul with better health would challenge them

wilt scoring average and rebounding average récords are the ones that are impossible now

the 100 point record is absurdly hard but possible imo

I agree that Wilt’s are harder, but it is damn crazy that CP3 has been around since 2005 and is only a little over 2/3 of the way to Stockton. The health is part of what makes it so hard, but even then CP3 wouldn’t be on track to surpass Stockton. He needs about 8 more seasons without decline to catch Stockton, and that is pretty crazy.

I remember reading a breakdown on Paul's shot at Stockton's records back in maybe it was 2009 when he was just on FIRE. It was crazy how even then it was already basically impossible to reach the assist record. Now....he did seem to have a shot at the steal one.

[Harry Garris]

I find Wilt’s record of 55 rebounds in a game to be harder to beat than his scoring records.

Teams are currently averaging 44.7 rebounds/game right now. Most of us have probably scored 100 points with a player in NBA 2K but how many of us have even come close to 55 rebounds, even with the sliders on?

At first I just assumed that both teams must have shot terribly from the field in that game to have so many rebound attempts, but not really. According to the box score the Celtics and Warriors just shot a combined 237 field goal attempts in that game. That's absurd.

[falcolombardi]

6-0 in the Finals

6 Finals MVPs

with the SAME team.

No one is doing that again, esp in this Player Empowerment era....

The problem with that is Phil Jackson. Was Jordan a system player? He didn't prove himself like Tom Brady did in Tampa. Phil Jackson has a lot more rings than Jordan.

Bill Russell is 11-1 in the NBA Finals and he won 9 as a player and 2 more as a player-coach. That's more impressive.

specially because the one loss was when injures

[TheBobster]

Kobe's 81 points by a guard.

Really? Players are scoring 50-60 like nothing, and Booker scored 70 a few seasons ago. Teams are scoring 150+pts quite often now. I feel another guard could easily get 81+ in the next decade with the current pace.

I do agree that someone(s) will definitely surpass 81 points in a game sometime in the near future. At how the game is played. The sad thing is, is that Kobe could have easily scored 90+ points that game.

Also, keep in mind David Thompson scored 73 in a game in 1978 and Pete Maravich scored 68 in a game in 1977, both without the benefit of the 3-point shot.

So it's possible.

[dhsilv2]

The one thing that could change how we view a lot of this is if breakthroughs get made about how we age. I mean we are seeing this already with LeBron to some degree. If 10-20 years from now guys are playing as well at 36 as they did at 26 and can play till they are 45 then some of these records will fall. For all we know now Luka may end up playing until he's 50 and have a 20 year long prime. Which might mean he ends up with 50k points and 20k assists and 2200 games played. Wilt's 48.5 and 50.4 seem like the two hardest to be broken. I mean how often do guys even play 48 minutes in a single game anymore? Almost only if its double ot or a game 7.

Good point, just for context there have been 86 seasons in NBA history when someone 38 or older played more than 700 minutes.

66 occurred this century.
27 occurred in the last ten years.

I think it is a product of several things.

First, the average person in the developed eats way worse than 50 years ago due to the increase in sugar consumption and other garbage food. This is an underdiscussed fact you can see in the obesity/diabetes rates. I'm not attacking people here I have a sweet tooth I'm trying to kick.

But the average athlete eats a lot better now than in the past. There is just a lot more knowledge about nutrition now. And teams/athletes have greater incentives now to follow proper diets than in the past. The potential profits/salaries are just much higher now.

I'm not sure how much more improvements are available on this front.

Second, medicine is consistently getting better. As example, Penny's career never would have been nuked by arthroscopic surgery. It is a common surgery now. Duncan lost more athleticism from his torn lateral meniscus in 2000 than he would have now.

I suspect we will see consistent improvements here. As societies get richer we spend more and more money on improving medicine.

Third, performance enhancing drugs. I'm fine with em. I know a lot of fans hate em. I think they've been ubiqutious forever but similar to medicine each generation gets a better batch of drugs.

Fourth, training keeps getting better. I suspect trainers have figured out ways to reduce the number of injuries.

Fifth, load management. A lot of fans hate load management of players. They are silly. The decision of teams to not have players crank out 40mpg/81gp seasons may mean fans get the occasional games without stars. For me that isn't a problem I can enjoy a game even if most of the marquees names are out. But even if you watch basketball only for the stars you still get more seasons on the back end with the occasional resting of players.

I agree with you and I agree that people should not take some things personal...it is just information.

However, for all of the advancements we have made in medicine, technology, and training techniques...I think we have lost in mental fortitude, values, and desire.

- How many players today will even play 82 games at 30+ per minutes....whether due to rest management or off the court issues, players do not play as much. Lebron is playing at high level but he's also playing less games, look at his games played since he got to the Lakers:
2019 - 55
2020 - 67
2021 - 45
2022 - 65 games and that is if he plays all 11 games for the rest of the season

- Pride and commitment to team/teammates/fans...players in the past felt an obligation to play. There was no question that the regular season meant something and playing every game was important.

- Injuries that players would play with in the past, players do not play with now. I notice it the most with top tier players. Barkley played the 1993 finals with an elbow injury; he had to have it drained before G3 of the series. Isiah Thomas playing on a sprained ankle in the finals. These were not unusual occurrences...it was expected that they would play through the pain. Yes, there are likely long term effects, but imo, they would do it again. Because it was different mentality back then.

Imo, I think fans, players, media (well I don't know about the media nowadays) appreciate the determination and grit a player has to have to play through an injury and play well. Not every player did that, we know about Scottie Pippen and the migraine game...but how many historical moments were due to a player playing when not at his best:

- Willis Reed inspiring the Knicks to victory over the Lakers is a top 10 finals moment
- Isiah Thomas setting a scoring 25pts in the 3rd quarter of G6 in the finals
- Michael Jordan and the flu game
- Jalen Rose putting his foot and spraining Kobe's ankle in the 2000 finals causing him to miss G3, but Kobe came back

Those are all time great moments and they were created due to unfortunate injuries. But what makes them even better is that the players were not at their best...they did have to go to a deeper level to overcome the injury.

I think the modern fan feels, "Hey, these are amazing athletes, why shouldn't we see them at their best all the time. That's the whole point."

Coming from previous generation, that is what is irritating is that its not about seeing athletes at their best all the time. That is the point of the regular season, can you be the best over the 82 game grind, and then get through the playoffs. That is the true measure. It is a battle of attrition.

I think that is what turns me off to these recent stars is that they are great frontrunners....they are great when everyone is healthy, the team is playing well, posting videos on social media...its all great fun. But then as soon as a losing streak comes along...someone gets hurt...they get tired....off the court drama...fans start heckling. Then it all falls apart.

That is when you see how someone handles adversity...essentially the heroes journey. It sounds like a lot of fans just want to watch a male Mary Sue.....

Regular season 100% agree, but that's the league pushing it as much as it might be the players.

But the playoffs? Leonard was clearly playing through pain in 2019's playoffs. Curry 100% isn't playing in the regular season with his issues in 2016. No way KD or Klay play and get hurt in 2019 either for that matter. Didn't gianni come back after a pretty nasty knee or something injury last year? CP3 was playing through serious pain in that laker's series, it was reported he basically couldn't shoot if he wanted to.

[dhsilv2]

Really? Players are scoring 50-60 like nothing, and Booker scored 70 a few seasons ago. Teams are scoring 150+pts quite often now. I feel another guard could easily get 81+ in the next decade with the current pace.

I do agree that someone(s) will definitely surpass 81 points in a game sometime in the near future. At how the game is played. The sad thing is, is that Kobe could have easily scored 90+ points that game.

Also, keep in mind David Thompson scored 73 in a game in 1978 and Pete Maravich scored 68 in a game in 1977, both without the benefit of the 3-point shot.

So it's possible.

Rick Barry 64
West 63
Ice Man (you can debate if he's a guard today) 63

So there's 3 more guys to break 60 on 2's.

[sp6r=underrated]

Breaking Chamberlain's 100 PTS is pretty much common knowledge.

But I think the one NBA record that will never be broken: a team coming back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. Record is currently at 0-143.

It will happen someday. 2003 Blazers fell down 3-0 to a 60 wins Mavs club. Made it to G7 and had a lead going into the 4th before self-destructing in the 4th Q, which was that core's norm.