Active players are listed in bold

* Indicates member of the Hall of Fame.

Rank	Player	PPG	TS+
1.	Michael Jordan*	30.12	106
2.	Wilt Chamberlain*	30.07	113
3.	Elgin Baylor*	27.36	102
4.	Joel Embiid	27.32	108
5.	Kevin Durant	27.30	113
6.	LeBron James	27.19	108
7.	Jerry West*	27.03	112
8.	Allen Iverson*	26.66	98
9.	Bob Pettit*	26.36	109
10.	Oscar Robertson*	25.68	115
11.	Damian Lillard	25.19	106
12.	George Gervin*	25.09	107
13.	Karl Malone*	25.02	109
14.	Kobe Bryant*	24.99	104
15.	Dominique Wilkins*	24.83	100
16.	Rick Barry*	24.78	104
17.	Stephen Curry	24.69	114
18.	Donovan Mitchell	24.68	100
19.	James Harden	24.65	111
20.	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*	24.61	114
21.	Larry Bird*	24.29	105
22.	Adrian Dantley*	24.27	115
23.	Pete Maravich*	24.24	99
24.	Julius Erving*	24.16	106
25.	Anthony Davis	24.00	107
26.	Devin Booker	23.97	102
27.	Shaquille ONeal*	23.69	111
28.	Kyrie Irving	23.41	105
29.	George Mikan*	23.13	114
30.	Karl-Anthony Towns	22.97	111
31.	Paul Arizin*	22.81	111
32.	Giannis Antetokounmpo	22.72	108
33.	David Thompson*	22.67	108
34.	Jayson Tatum	22.58	102
35.	Dan Issel*	22.56	107
36.	Bernard King*	22.49	105
37.	Carmelo Anthony	22.45	100
38.	Russell Westbrook	22.29	96
39.	Charles Barkley*	22.14	114
40.	Bradley Beal	22.12	101
41.	Bob McAdoo*	22.05	107
42.	Dwyane Wade*	21.98	103
43.	Geoff Petrie	21.82	100
44.	Hakeem Olajuwon*	21.77	104
45.	Alex English*	21.47	103
46.	Billy Cunningham*	21.18	101
47.	David Robinson*	21.06	110
48.	DeMar DeRozan	21.04	100
49.	Mitch Richmond*	21.00	105
50.	Patrick Ewing*	20.98	103
51.	Elvin Hayes*	20.96	96
52.	John Havlicek*	20.78	99
53.	Dirk Nowitzki*	20.74	108
54.	Charlie Scott*	20.69	97
55.	John Drew	20.69	103
56.	Glenn Robinson	20.69	100
57.	John Brisker	20.69	102
58.	Chris Webber*	20.68	97
59.	Paul George	20.66	103
60.	Gilbert Arenas	20.66	103
61.	Zach LaVine	20.53	103
62.	Clyde Drexler*	20.44	102
63.	Nikola Jokic	20.38	112

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 11/13/2023.

What to make of this data

Taking the career PPG leaders and getting the adjusted TS% (TS+) can give you a good idea who the best scorers in NBA/ABA history are. However, this does not account for pace or minutes played in a game. More work would have to be done to normalize for PER 36 minutes or PER 100 possessions stats.

The career PPG leaders also only accounts for regular season games and not playoff games. This should also be taken into account if you want to debate who the best scorers in NBA/ABA history are. Also, primes or best 5-year stretches are not taken into account for. Players who started off on the bench (Giannis, Kobe, etc.) or players who played way past their scoring prime (Wilt, Dirk, MJ, Kobe, Barkley, etc.) will be ranked much differently than their best 5-year stretch.

Active players are listed in bold and their numbers will change with more games played. This data is accurate for games played before 11/13/2023.

Finally, there are Rate statistic requirements.

TS+ formula: 100*[TS%/league TS%]. Career total weighted by seasonal TSA (True Shooting Attempts)

Some takeaways

• Wilt has the best combination of volume and efficiency
• Would you take KD’s ~3 less PPG in exchange for 7 higher TS+ against MJ?
• Jerry West was underrated as a scorer
• Oscar Robertson had higher volume and efficiency than Steph
• Steph barely edges Kareem in volume, but they have the same efficiency
• Adrian Dantley had higher volume and efficiency than Charles Barkley
• David Robinson had higher volume and efficiency than Dirk Nowitzki