Who has the most scoring titles in NBA history?
Stephen Curry went on a blitzkrieg in the last few weeks of the 2020-21 NBA regular season to clinch the scoring title from Bradley Beal.
The two-time MVP winner dropped 46 points in the Golden State Warriors’ final regular-season game against the Memphis Grizzlies, edging out Beal by a slender margin of 0.7 points per game. Beal had produced 25 points in the Wizards’ final match against the Charlotte Hornets to finish with 31.3 points per game, while Curry ended with 32.
In the process, Stephen Curry won his second scoring title, putting him ahead of a certain LeBron James, whom he'll face in the first game of the play-in tournament, in the all-time list. Among active players, Curry is now the fourth one to have won multiple scoring titles.
How is the NBA scoring title determined?
The NBA scoring title is awarded to the player who averages the most points per game at the end of the regular season, provided the player has played a minimum of 58 games.
Till the 1968-69 campaign, the NBA scoring title was given to the player who scored the most points in a season. However, that has not been the case for almost half a century now.
Stephen Curry is still a long way from being considered the most prolific scorer the league has ever seen. In fact, he is behind one of his former Warriors teammates, Kevin Durant in this regard - who himself holds 4 titles and is featured on our list.
On that note, let's take a look at the list of players with the most scoring titles in NBA history.
#5 Stephen Curry and 8 other players - 2 NBA scoring titles
Stephen Curry won his first NBA scoring title in the Golden State Warriors’ championship-winning season in 2016.
His latest scoring title makes him one of nine players in NBA history to have won exactly two scoring titles. Among the group, Curry and Westbrook are the only players still active in the game.
Other notable NBA legends who ended their careers with two scoring titles include Kareem- Abdul Jabbar, who won both his scoring titles for the Milwaukee Bucks (1971, 1972) and Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers.
Lakers legend Bryant, along with Adrian Dantley, Paul Arizin, Bob Petit, Tracy McGrady and Westbrook, won two scoring titles while playing for the same team.
In this group, Shaquille O'Neal is the only player to win NBA scoring titles with multiple teams (OKC Thunder and LA Lakers). The Big Shaq, despite his rather poor free-throwing prowess, was part of some of the closest races for the NBA scoring title.
#4 James Harden and 3 other players - 3 NBA scoring titles
James Harden, widely considered to be one of the best scorers in NBA history, is one of four players to have won exactly three scoring titles. The 31-year-old former MVP is the only active player among the quartet.
The other players to have won exactly three NBA scoring titles are George Mikal, Neil Johnston and Bob Adoo. The trio did so long before the 3-point line was introduced in the NBA in 1979.
All the four players won their scoring titles with the same team; Harden did so for the Houston Rockets, McAdoo for the Buffalo Braves (now known as the LA Clippers) and Johnston for the Philadelphia Warriors.
#3 Kevin Durant and 2 others - 4 NBA scoring titles
Kevin Durant is one of three players to have won exactly four NBA scoring titles. Widely included in the GOAT debate, Durant won all four of his scoring titles while playing for the OKC Thunder in the early years of the 2010s decade.
The Brooklyn Nets star is one of only five players to have won the NBA scoring title in three consecutive years.
Durant is tied for four scoring titles with NBA legends George Gervin and Alan Iverson. The latter won all four of his titles (1999, 2001, 2002 and 2005) while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Like Durant, Gervin also won three scoring titles on the trot, doing so from 1978-80; Gervin won his fourth in 1982. All four of Gervin’s scoring titles came while playing for the San Antonio Spurs.
#2 Wilt Chamberlain - 7 NBA scoring titles
Wilt Chamberlain, who won seven NBA scoring titles, is widely considered to be one of the greatest scorers the league has ever seen.
Chamberlain eked out a number of scoring records in the NBA like most points in a game (100), most points per game in a season (50.4), most 50-point games in a season (45) and most career 50-point games (118) among many others.
Chamberlain won five scoring titles for the Philadelphia 76ers, which is the most won by a player for a single team after only one other player. He won two of his seven scoring titles for the Philadelphia 76ers. Chamberlain, though, has the joint-most NBA scoring titles won in consecutive years - seven.
Wilt Chamberlain won his seven scoring titles between 1960 and 1966, which showed his degree of dominance in the league. In that regard, it comes as a surprise that he did not win any of his two NBA championships in the years when he won the scoring title.
#1 Michael Jordan - 10 NBA scoring titles
Former Chicago Bulls maverick Michael Jordan has won the most scoring titles - ten - in NBA history.
During his storied career, Jordan won the NBA championship six times and was the MVP five times and the Finals MVP on six occasions.
Apart from Chamberlain, Michael Jordan is the only other player in NBA history to win seven consecutive scoring titles. Jordan did so between 1987 and 1993 before winning three more (again in successive years) during his second stint with the Chicago Bulls.
The present-day NBA has many players who have the ability to win the scoring title. But the kind of dominance Jordan exhibited is unlikely to be replicated by anyone any time soon.