Players such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and James Harden have recorded the most 35-point games over the last 40 years.

Over the last four decades in NBA history, we have seen some of the greatest all-around scorers take the hardwood. From rim-rocking dunkers to three-point shooters who changed the game seemingly overnight, the NBA has been full of players who have racked up points at an incredible rate, re-writing the basketball history books with every passing performance. Now, it is time to find out who was the most consistent elite scorer during the last four decades.

Recording a 35-point game is a decent accomplishment, even by today’s standards, where the three-point shots fly like they never have before. This will be used as our measuring stick on today’s list. The following 10 NBA players are the players who have reached that threshold the most times since the 1983-84 season.

The following players on this list, you will notice, are some of the most talented players to ever touch a basketball at the NBA level and own some of the most prestigious scoring records in NBA history. Now, it is time to reveal the NBA players with the most 35-point games since 1983-84.

10. Stephen Curry – 137 35-Point Games

The first player to kick off our top 10 is none other than the greatest three-point shooter in the history of the game, Stephen Curry. Over the last 14 seasons, Curry has won four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors along with two MVP awards and two scoring titles. He has averaged 24.6 points per game for his career on 47.5% shooting overall and 42.8% shooting from three.

We have never seen a player with the three-point volume and efficiency of Curry over the course of his career, and likely will never see someone like him ever again. In his career-high game of 62 points in 2021 against Portland, Curry shot 58.1% from the field overall and knocked down eight three-points on 16 attempts. Curry has put on a total of 11 50-point performances in his career as well as 50 40-point games.

Curry still has plenty of time to add to his 137 35-point games in his career. In 2023-24, he will turn 36 years old but his playstyle of perimeter shooting and moving away from the ball can live on for a few more seasons. Let’s check out the players he is chasing ahead of him in this category.

9. Shaquille O’Neal – 139 35-Point Games

For most of his career, Shaquille O’Neal was virtually unstoppable, especially during his time with the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat. O’Neal went on to become a four-time NBA champion, three-time Finals MVP, one-time MVP, and a two-time scoring champion from 1993 through 2007.

O’Neal was a dominant inside force at his peak, often bowling over and throwing aside the NBA’s biggest frontcourt players like they were nothing. Surprisingly enough, Shaq only posted 60 points in a game one time in his career, which came on his 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day in 2000 against the Clippers. In that game, O’Neal went 24-35 from the field, or 68.6%, and finished with 61 points in a 20-point victory.

As for the rest of his career, O’Neal would have just two other 50-point games with the Magic and Lakers. He also recorded a total of 46 40-point games that are included in his 139 total 35-point games. O’Neal dominated the paint all the way to ninth all-time in 35-point games and became one of the greatest players in NBA history.

8. Karl Malone – 151 35-Point Games

Regardless of what you can say about Karl Malone off the court, on the court, he was one of the most consistent and well-balanced scorers there has been in NBA history. In his 18 seasons with the Utah Jazz and one season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Malone became one of the most reliable offensive options in the NBA with a superb mid-range jumper and the ability to run the floor and command the ball on fast breaks.

From 1988 through 2000, Malone averaged at least 25.0 points per game in 12 out of 13 seasons. His streak of at least 20.0 points per game lasted from 1987 through 2003, or 17 every season of his Utah Jazz career outside of his rookie season. In 1990, against the Milwaukee Bucks, Malone recorded his career-high 61 points in a 48-point blowout win. He shot 80.8% from the field that night while also knocking down 19-23 free throws.

Along with his 60-point masterpiece, Malone also recorded three other 50-point games as well as 40 other 40-point games in his 19-year career. Despite never winning an NBA championship, Malone was a two-time MVP in 1997 and 1999, as well as a 14-time All-Star and 14-time All-NBA Team selection.

7. Kevin Durant – 152 35-Point Games

There is no denying that Kevin Durant is one of the most offensively gifted players in NBA history. Standing nearly seven feet tall, Durant’s tall build and slender frame have afforded him the opportunity to handle the ball like a guard and become a God-like shooter from all over the court, especially the mid-range. In his NBA career, Durant has won a total of four scoring titles, two championships, two Finals MVP awards, and an MVP award with the Thunder in 2014.

As great of a scorer as Durant is, it is a bit of a shock that he has never recorded a 60-point game. His career-high of 55 points came in 2022 as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. In a contest against the Hawks, Durant went 19-28 from the field and 8-10 from three, but the Nets would lose by a score of 122-115.

Durant has had a total of nine 50-point games in his career with the Thunder, Warriors, Nets, and Suns. He has also had a total of 56 40-point games during that 16-year career that continues on into 2023-24. In 2023. Durant put forth one of the most efficient scoring seasons ever with 29.9 points per game on 55/40/90 shooting splits. I expect to see the number of 35-point games in his career grow exponentially as he joins the Suns in 2023-24.

6. Dominique Wilkins – 170 35-Point Games

To this day, Dominique Wilkins remains one of the most underrated players in NBA history. Often citing his inability to ever secure an NBA championship or MVP award, people rarely ever discuss the fact that his opponents were Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson for most of his career, rarely ever giving him the chance to achieve those things. Still, they called him the Human Highlight Reel for a reason, and that is because he was one of the most offensively electric players ever.

Wilkins was the winner of one scoring title in his career in 1986 when he averaged 30.3 points per game. His career-high of 57 points was achieved twice in his career. Once in a win over the Nets on a night he shot 56.8% from the floor, and another time in 1986 over the Bulls when he shot 67.9% from the floor.

In his career, Wilkins would record a total of seven 50-point games as well as 49 different 40-point games. Wilkins would be named an All-Star nine times in his career as well as a seven-time member of the All-NBA Team.

5. James Harden – 188 35-Point Games

There was a time when James Harden could have been considered one of the greatest offensive players in NBA history during his run with the Houston Rockets in the late 2010s. He won three straight scoring titles from 2018 through 2020 and became the only players besides Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant to average 35.0 points per game in a season since 1983-84.

Harden’s run as the NBA’s top scorer came with an innovative Euro step and a step-back three-point shot that was basically unguardable. In 2018, Harden became MVP averaging 30.4 points per game which increased to an incredible 36.1 points per game in 2019. In 2020, he averaged 34.3 points per game for his third straight scoring title.

Harden also achieved his career-high of 61 points twice in his career, both in 2019 and both in victories. His first time came against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden where he shot 44.7% from the field. The second came against the Spurs where he shot 55.9%. Harden has recorded a total of four 60-point games in his career as well as 19 other 50-point games and 78 other 40-point games in his career. He ranks in the top-five for three-pointers made in his career as well as the top 30 for free throws made.

4. Allen Iverson – 193 35-Point Games

Allen Iverson is one of the most talented scorers in NBA history as well. At just six feet tall, Iverson defied the odds by attacking the rim with fearlessness and grace as he went on to become an icon during the 2000s. Iverson would earn four different NBA scoring titles and an MVP award in 2001 as he led the Sixers to the NBA Finals. That is only part of his story though.

All four of Iverson’s scoring titles would come between the years of 1999 and 2005. During those seven years, he averaged 29.1 points per game on 41.2% shooting from the floor. He recorded his career-high of 60 points during the 2004-05 season against the Orlando Magic. In a 112-99 win, Iverson shot 47.2% from the field and 24-27 from the foul line to get to 60.

In his career, Iverson hit the 50-point mark a total of 11 times and the 40-point mark 79 times. His elite scoring got him labeled as selfish and non-impactful when it came to NBA championships. The beauty of his play was that it did it much to the ire of Commissioner David Stern who famously loathed Iverson for the way he played, dressed, and pretty much anything else he did. Iverson is rarely discussed anymore when it comes to the game’s greatest scorers and that is one of the real tragedies of NBA discourse over the last 10-15 years.

3. LeBron James – 234 35-Point Games

There has never been a more consistent scorer in NBA history than LeBron James over the last 20 seasons. During that time, James has gone 19 seasons in a row averaging at least 25.0 points per game and earned the title of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He broke the mark previously set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar which stood for 39 years. Now, he has a chance to make the record untouchable for future generations as he is still playing at an elite level heading into year 21 with the Lakers in 2023-24.

James has reached the 60-point mark in a game one time in his career with a career-high of 61 against the Bobcats in 2014 when he was with the Miami Heat. James went 66.7% shooting from the floor and 8-10 from three on the night to get to the 61-point total. In his career, he also recorded 14 50-point games and a total of 74 40-point games in 20 seasons with the Cavaliers, Heat, and Lakers.

LeBron James is often referred to as a pass-first player but when he turns on his jets, nobody can stop him as a scorer. He has delivered four championships to three different franchises in his career along with four Finals MVP awards, four MVP awards, 19 All-Star selections, and 19 All-NBA Team selections as well.

2. Kobe Bryant – 236 35-Point Games

Kobe Bryant will likely rank third on this list by the end of the 2023-24 season with LeBron James just two 35-point games behind him. Bryant was a master of scoring the ball during his 20-year NBA career with the Lakers which led to two scoring titles, five NBA championships, two Finals MVP awards, and an MVP award. He was an icon on a global scale and at levels that only Michael Jordan ever reached as far as popularity goes, and he earned it.

Kobe’s most iconic performance was, of course, his 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in front of his hometown crowd at Staples Center in Los Angeles. During that game, Bryant scored 81 points on 60.9% shooting from the floor and 18-20 from the foul line. Bryant had six different 60-point games in his career as well as 25 50-point games and 122 40-point games.

The myths about Kobe Bryant have become delusional and have hurt his legacy more than helped it by a long shot. Kobe Bryant was not inefficient, he actually shot at or above league average for most of his career. He was not selfish either. The Lakers just expected him to win with a team that couldn’t even compete for a G-League title. It is time we start putting the respect back on Kobe Bryant’s career before we let his legacy fade into the sunset out of spite.

1. Michael Jordan – 333 35-Point Games

If you were expecting another name at the top of this list, you have been living under a rock for the last 40 years. Michael Jordan is the greatest scorer and overall player in NBA history, and at this point, that will not change for some time. From his NBA-record 10 scoring titles to his NBA-record 30.1 career scoring average in the regular season, Jordan’s legacy is cemented forever.

Michael Jordan also holds the NBA record for most points per game in the NBA playoffs with 33.4. He averaged 30.0 points per game or more eight times while also averaging 35.0 points per game or more twice. His career-high 69 points came in a 1990 win over the Cavaliers in which he shot 62.2% from the field and 21-23 from the foul line. Jordan would log a total of four 60-point games in his career as well as 31 50-point games and 173 40-point games.

Michael Jordan’s elite scoring also came with elite defensive play evidenced by his 1988 Defensive Player of the Year award as well as his nine All-Defensive First Team selections. He would lead the Bulls to six NBA championships by way of two three-peats from 1991 through 1993 and 1996 through 1998. He captured five MVP awards as well and is far and away the all-time leader in individual accolades won.