A historic explosion of individual high scorers in the NBA

Right now, the league has more 30-point scorers than ever before.

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Joel Embiid scored 59 points on Sunday night. It was every bit as jaw-dropping as the sentence “Joel Embiid scored 59 points on Sunday night” would lead you to believe.

Yes, he also had 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks. And he got the win in a competitive game against the Jazz. But let’s talk about the points a little bit more. (And let’s note that it was the second 50-point game of the day: Darius Garland dropped 51 on Sunday as well.)

After winning the scoring title last season with 30.6 points per game, Embiid’s scoring average has actually increased to a career best 32.3 points per game. And yet, this season he’s only tied for third in scoring. Embiid is scoring more than ever, and he’s not the early favorite for the scoring crown because a lot of guys are scoring more than ever.

Right now, eight players are averaging at least 30 points per game:

1. Luka Doncic: 34.3 ppg

2. Steph Curry: 32.8 ppg

3. Jayson Tatum: 32.3 ppg

4. Embiid: 32.3 ppg

5. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 31.8 ppg

6. Donovan Mitchell: 31.6 ppg

7. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 31.1 ppg

8. Kevin Durant: 30.6 ppg

Last season, one player — Embiid — scored 30 per game. One. And this year, a dozen or so games in, we have eight players at that level.

In the NBA’s entire history, there’s never been a season in which more than five players averaged 30 points per game. That happened in 1961-62, when Wilt Chamberlain averaged a hilarious 50.4 ppg and Walt Bellamy, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West all hit the 30 ppg mark. There have been a handful of seasons in which three players hit the 30 ppg mark, most recently in 2019-20 when James Harden won the scoring crown at 34 ppg and Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard just climbed over the 30 ppg mark.

There are also seasons in which no player hits the mark. In fact, between 2010-11 and 2014-15, only a single player hit the 30 ppg mark in a single season (Kevin Durant in ‘13-14).

The league has changed since those days of course, but teams aren’t scoring appreciably more this season than in other recent seasons. Individualism just seems to be taking hold on a higher level. The offensive quality of the current crop of NBA stars is hard to get your head around, especially as Ja Morant and Trae Young loom just under 30 ppg. Curry is playing as well as ever and getting basically no garbage time rest. Luka and Embiid are currently having to carry incredibly heavy offensive loads, and making the most of it. The same applies to Durant, and has always — save for those three seasons in Golden State — applied to Durant. SGA is truly On One and feels like a potential 60-point scorer this season. Same with Mitchell. Tatum has hit another level (how many more levels exist for this guy? damn) and Giannis remains the best player in the world.

A few of these high-scorers might drop off the list, and maybe one or two below the threshold rises up. It’s early. But this is worth following, especially to see how it impacts the rest of the game to have a greater share of the points scored by a greater share of teams concentrated among a handful of players. With trends in the NBA, there are always reactions and adjustments.