PRPG:
Wilt Chamberlain

3 Basketball Records That Probably Won’t Be Broken Anytime Soon

October 12, 2015

We’ve previously talked about some unbeatable baseball records. Here’s a look at some equally daunting records from the NBA.

Wilt Chamberlain’s 50 points-per-game average

Wilt Chamberlain“Wilt the Stilt” is regarded as one of the top players in the game’s history, and with good reason. He entered the league in 1959 and immediately made an impact, scoring an average of 37.6 points per game. But that’s not even the record. In the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged an astounding 50.36 points per game. The only person to ever come close: Wilt Chamberlain, in the next season with 44.83 points per game. Nowadays the NBA is as strong on offense as it is on defense—teams rarely score much above the 90s anymore. Furthermore, teamwork is employed, which means assists, passing the ball and more scorers. Result: The player in the 2014-15 season with the most points per game average was Russell Westbrook with 28.1—just over half of Chamberlain’s record average from 1962.

John Stockton’s 15,806 assists

Stockton played 19 seasons, all of them with the Utah Jazz, reached the NBA Finals twice, and played on the U.S.’s “Dream Team” in the 1992 Olympics. But he wasn’t a big scorer like his Jazz teammate Karl Malone, or Olympics teammate Michael Jordan. Stockton was a true point guard and “playmaker” in that he helped others score. He led the league in assists a record eight times in a row, never averaging less than 11 per game in that span. Overall, Stockton amassed 15,806 assists. The closest active player: Andre Miller, with 8,174.

Bill Russell’s 11 championships

In the 1950s and ‘60s, long-term contracts kept players with teams for their entire career (nor were as many teams to play for). The Boston Celtics absolutely dominated the NBA in that time, winning 11 titles between 1957 and 1969. And star center Bill Russell was on the roster for all of them. Russell’s career lasted 13 seasons, and he played in the finals in 12 of those seasons. In fact, Russell has more championships than 21 of 30 NBA franchises combined.