Greatest individual scoring season all time?

[edgymnerch]

title

[Owly]

May be best to demarcate the limits of what is considered to get everyone discussing the same thing. Or else at least acknowledge that you are open to all angles.

e.g.
- are turnovers seperate ... even if generated through attempted shot generation
- more minutes allow you to accumulate more value, is this meant to be a factor or something to neutralize (perhaps requiring meeting a threshold)
- does individual mark, "as 1 person as opposed to team" or does it go further and regard only self-generated shots
- the value of scoring is contextual depending what teammates can do and what other other skills you can co-leverage (spacing/gravity is non-box and fairly directly related to scoring, passing is [imperfectly] in the box is more external), how and where one draws the lines may differ but it can be messy putting these things in boxes.

One possible angle
Top 10 TS add (RS only, without last circa 4 years included) from a spreadsheet done round here a few years back
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 460.4
Steph Curry 454.7
Charles Barkley 433.5
Wilt Chamberlain 430.3
Adrian Dantley 404.8
Kevin Durant 394.9
Oscar Robertson 392.5
Jerry West 374.3
George Mikan 365.5
Karl Malone 362.8

Misses Groza '50. 377.4
And earliest guys are playing fewer games whilst in a lower scoring league and if one prefers to look at efficiency as a percentage or ratio from league norms (rather than a raw percentage point gap) that would bump up guys like Feerick. As is this measure offers '72 Abdul-Jabbar and '16 Curry as fairly clear leaders ('71 Kareem would be up there too).

[pancakes3]

Harden in 2019 putting up 36ppg, which is 8 more than what PG scored as 2nd place.

Russ in 2017 putting up 31.6ppg while averaging a triple double.

Steph in 2016 winning it on 30.1ppg at 50/40/90 splits

KD in 2014 put up 32ppg, which was 4.5ppg more than Melo in 2nd and did it on 50/39/87 shooting. 20.7 fga/game. Bonkers.

MJ in 1987, putting up 37 with Nique at 2nd putting up 29ppg (yeah, i know, more efficient in '88)

idk about seasons going much further back than this. Kareem in 72? Maravich in 77? Rick Barry in '67? Wilt's 50 burger in '62?

HM: AI in 2001, Kobe in 2006, MJ in 1996 coming back from retirement

Knock on wood - Embiid in 2024 - his season low so far is 20 ppg and the only player since Wilt in '52 to average more points than minutes.

[Djoker]

Kareem in 1972 seems maybe the most insane. 34.8 ppg (1st) on +9.9 rTS (2nd).

[EmpireFalls]

Wilt’s 50. I don’t care. It’s the 50 PPG.

[Dr Positivity]

I think the Wilt and Kareem seasons are close. Kareem is more efficient and half of the Wilt volume advantage is pace. Kareem got to play more expansion teams instead of Russell being 1/8th of his opponents. So I'm going to say Wilt.

[1993Playoffs]

Curry in 2016 Never seen anything like it

[CodeBreaker]

2016 Curry.

I still get nightmares because of that specific player

[TheGOATRises007]

If it's RS specifically, 2016 Curry.

From the top 100 teams project:

"How many players have posted OBPMs above 6 in a season (since the early 70s)? LeBron has done it 15 times, Jordan did it 9 times, Durant did it 7 times and Curry, Harden, Shaq and Chris Paul have done it six times. Pretty good company there. How about OBPMs of 8+? Jordan had 7, LeBron had 5, Harden had 3, while Curry and Durant had 2. Same group mostly, just some shuffling. OBPMs of 10+? That list has one entry: Steph Curry’s 2016 season. He’s a point guard; was it his passing? Curry posted low 30s Assist% and low teens TO%, so he was a plenty good passer, but that’s hardly enough to justify the highest OBPM ever. Let me draw your attention back to his PPX and efficiency: 42.5 points per hundred, at +12.8%."

For that RS, Curry was the singular greatest offensive force in NBA history IMO.

[Cavsfansince84]

Personally I like 2014 KD, 88-90 MJ, 2016 Steph and 72 Kareem. The next tier I'd have the more recent ones such as Hardens, Embiids, Luka along with Oscar, West, Gervin, King, some of LeBrons, Kobe's etc. Wilt's are probably somewhere between there for me just because of the pace and mpg.

[trelos6]

RS only:

Curry 2015-16 was 31.9 pp75 on +12.8 rTS%

KD 2014 was 31.4 pp75 on +9.4 rTS%

Harden 2019 was 36.2 pp75 on +5.9 rTS%

Jordan 88 was 32.7 +6.5%

[Cavsfansince84]

RS only:

Curry 2015-16 was 31.9 pp75 on +12.8 rTS%

KD 2014 was 31.4 pp75 on +9.4 rTS%

Harden 2019 was 36.2 pp75 on +5.9 rTS%

Jordan 88 was 32.7 +6.5%

The issue with pp75 is it sort of compensates for lower mpg and volume. Not just pace.

[AEnigma]

RS only:

Curry 2015-16 was 31.9 pp75 on +12.8 rTS%

KD 2014 was 31.4 pp75 on +9.4 rTS%

Harden 2019 was 36.2 pp75 on +5.9 rTS%

Jordan 88 was 32.7 +6.5%

The issue with pp75 is it sort of compensates for lower mpg and volume. Not just pace.

That only feels meaningfully applicable to the past ~9 years as star scorers like Curry and Giannis and Embiid have seen their minutes heavily scaled back. Although even then, Harden was not exactly gaming his minutes.

[AEnigma]

TS Add is nice and accessible, but it is just one formulation. I have seen a few different ones… I know Backpicks / Thinking Basketball has that “ScoreVal” metric… I bookmarked this a few years back…

But one odd part of this thread to me has been the lack of commentary on playoff scoring.

Take 2014. Great season by Durant. 31.3 points per 75 possessions on 63.5% efficiency for 383.9 TS Add, 95.91 TSI, probably a historically high ScoreVal… but then in the postseason that drops down to 27 points per 75 possessions on 57% efficiency. Meanwhile, regular season Lebron puts up 28.5 per 75 possessions on 64% efficiency for 347 TS Add and 94.17 TSI. Durant’s regular season is better. But then in the postseason? Lebron is 30 per 75 possessions on 66.8% efficiency! And it is not like he was beating up on bad defences; no, that was against three of the top five defences in the league that year (plus the mediocre “superteam” Nets). Focusing on their one common opponent, Durant scored 26 per game on 56% efficiency while Lebron scored 28 per game on 68% efficiency. Not really a question in my mind which of the two I would actually want as my lead scorer.

This can also apply internally. 1972 Kareem dominated the league. But then in the playoffs, he struggled quite a bit against Thurmond and Wilt. Excusable, absolutely… but would 1977 Kareem have struggled to the same extent? I do not think so, no.

On that note, my top three in order is 1990 Jordan, 2014 Lebron, and 1977 Kareem (deference given to those who can more naturally create shot opportunities for themselves).

[Cavsfansince84]

That only feels meaningfully applicable to the past ~9 years as star scorers like Curry and Giannis and Embiid have seen their minutes heavily scaled back. Although even then, Harden was not exactly gaming his minutes.

Overall though and adding 88 MJ in there its worth mentioning I think if pp75 becomes a go to stat to use in the comparison which goes beyond just the last 10 years. Honestly I think way too many comparisons on here get boiled down to 1-2 stats and there's a lot of context which I think gets left out.

[scrabbarista]

I don't have an opinion on who had the greatest scoring season, but Harden in 2019 was absolutely awe-inspiring to watch night to night.

[scrabbarista]

I don't have an opinion on who had the greatest scoring season, but Harden during his best multi-month stretch in 2019 was absolutely awe-inspiring to watch night to night.

[falcolombardi]

Kareem in 1972 seems maybe the most insane. 34.8 ppg (1st) on +9.9 rTS (2nd).

At a first glance this would be my pick too

[falcolombardi]

TS Add is nice and accessible, but it is just one formulation. I have seen a few different ones… I know Backpicks / Thinking Basketball has that “ScoreVal” metric… I bookmarked this a few years back…

But one odd part of this thread to me has been the lack of commentary on playoff scoring.

Take 2014. Great season by Durant. 31.3 points per 75 possessions on 63.5% efficiency for 383.9 TS Add, 95.91 TSI, probably a historically high ScoreVal… but then in the postseason that drops down to 27 points per 75 possessions on 57% efficiency. Meanwhile, regular season Lebron puts up 28.5 per 75 possessions on 64% efficiency for 347 TS Add and 94.17 TSI. Durant’s regular season is better. But then in the postseason? Lebron is 30 per 75 possessions on 66.8% efficiency! And it is not like he was beating up on bad defences; no, that was against three of the top five defences in the league that year (plus the mediocre “superteam” Nets). Focusing on their one common opponent, Durant scored 26 per game on 56% efficiency while Lebron scored 28 per game on 68% efficiency. Not really a question in my mind which of the two I would actually want as my lead scorer.

This can also apply internally. 1972 Kareem dominated the league. But then in the playoffs, he struggled quite a bit against Thurmond and Wilt. Excusable, absolutely… but would 1977 Kareem have struggled to the same extent? I do not think so, no.

On that note, my top three in order is 1990 Jordan, 2014 Lebron, and 1977 Kareem (deference given to those who can more naturally create shot opportunities for themselves).

Lebron scoring leapfrogs a lot of people once accounting for playoffs resiliency (durant and curry as contemporaneous peers, kawhi too albeit this would be more discussible if kawhi sample was bigger and more healthy)

[DatAsh]

This is a tough one for me. How heavily do I weight the regular season vs the postseason? How heavily do I weigh how much the player's scoring actually helped the team win? Wilt for example scored more to the detriment of his team imo, and he became a better player by scoring less, but more efficiently, and improving his defense.

If I ignore the final clause(whether it was actually helping the team win), my gut instinct is Wilt's 50ppg season.

I don't think that's a correct decision, though, so looking at just players who's massive volume actually helped.

If I look at just regular seasons, I'm thinking these options

1972 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
28.4 pp36, +9.9 TS% , NA TOV

2019 James Harden
35.4 pp36, +5.6 TS%, 14.5% TOV%

2016 Steph Curry
31.7 pp36, +12.8 TS%, 12.9 TOV%

1988 Michael Jordan
31.2 pp36, +6.5 TS%, 9.6 TOV%

1990 Michael Jordan
31.0 pp36, + 6.9 TS%, 9.6 TOV%

1989 Michael Jordan
30.6 pp36, +7.7 TS%, 11.9 TOV%

1990 Michael Jordan
31.0 pp36, +6.9 TS%, 9.8 TOV%

2014 Kevin Durant
29.9 pp36, +9.4 TS%, 12.2 TOV%

2024 Joel Embiid
37.4 pp36, +6.3 TS%, 11.9 TOV%

2024 Shai Gilgeous Alexander
32.8 pp36, +6.9 TS%, 8.3 TOV%

2024 Luka Doncic
33.3 pp36, +4.4 TS%, 12.2 TOV%

2014 Lebron James
25.9 pp36, +10.8 TS% 14.4 TOV%



Reason I included so many MJ seasons is because I honestly couldn't decide which of those seasons is his scoring peak, and I'm curious what others think. All of the other players had very clearly defined scoring peak seasons.

Some things I'm thinking about looking at these stats:

1. Jordan and Alexander are in a league of thier own in terms of not turning over the ball. It's a little unfair to compare him to James Harden in that regard, as Harden plays that heliocentric roll where he does everything, but Jordan does play a similar role to guys like Curry and Durant.

2. Steph Curry's 2016 season is in a league of it's own in terms of shooting efficiency. This is in line with what I thought watching it at the time. IMO, this is the best regular season scoring season of all time.

3. I'm not sure how much to adjust these figures based on era differences. I've been watching the game since the early 90s, and it's very clear that it's way easier to put up huge stats for superstars in the current game than it was back then. I don't really know when this started though. My current thinking is that it was a gradual increase from 2009 to 2015 as teams were starting to figure out the value of the 3pt shot, and then a giant increase from 2016 to 2024(fueled by the Warriors success). I think it has accelerated even more in the past 2-3 years.

4. I've watched a ton of Kareem games, and to my eyes 76-78 Kareem was a better scorer in almost every way in terms of skill set, but early 70s Kareem did put up better scoring stats. I wonder if this could be due to an overall talent difference in the early 70s NBA vs late 70s NBA(after the ABA merger). I'm torn on Kareem's peak, as I think early 70s Kareem put in more defensive effort, but I find it hard to believe that early 70s Kareem was a better scorer.

This primarily affects my view of Joel, Luka, and Shai's 2024 season, but also to a lesser extent Harden's 2019 season, and Curry's 2016 Season. How much do I account for the ease of efficient scoring of stars relative to non stars for a particular era? The fact that 3 of these players are in the current year makes me pause and think.

If I were to rank these purely on regular season scoring, taking into account era differences, my first guess would be

1: 2016 Curry
2. *2019 Harden
3. 2014 Durant
4. 1972 Kareem
5. 88-90 Jordan(not sure which year)
6. 2024 Joel Embiid (arguably most impressive, but I'm super skeptical of 2024 stats)
7. 2014 Lebron
8. 2024 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
9. 2024 Luka Doncic

Seeing now that 3 of my top 10 picks are from the current year makes me doubt this even more.

That said, this is looking at just the regular season.

Curry, Harden, and Joel all fall off a cliff when it comes to the post season. Jordan and James are the only 2 two to hold their stat lines consistently, though Kareem does it in other years outside of 72', and Durant does it pretty well also.

I know I'm a huge Lebron fan(I think he's quite clearly the GOAT), so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but taking into account playoffs as well, I legitimately think you can include Lebron's 2014 season as a top 5 pure scoring season overall.

I don't want to answer just yet, as I want to read other people's arguments, but my initial playoffs included ranking is probably

1. 88-90 Jordan(partly putting him first because he's got like 4 to 5 years in the argument for best ever)
2. 2016 Curry(best RS scoring number by far, and though it dropped off in the PS, I think his scoring threat still provided huge value there)
3. 2014 Durant(all around great)
4. 2014 James(not the greatest RS, but maintained/exceded it in the playoffs)
5. 1972 Kareem(fell off a bit in the playoffs, but I think it's the 2nd best RS performance after 2016 Curry).


That said, I'm definitely open to change my mind based on what everyone else's thoughts are.


I honestly wasn't sure how to rate those 3 Micahel Jordan statlines