NBA History: All-Time Scoring Average Leaders By Position

Center: Wilt Chamberlain

Years Active: 1959 to 1973
Team(s): Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers
Career Scoring Average: 30.07 PPG
Career Scoring List: 31,419

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in terms of pure volume, but he isn’t even close to Wilt Chamberlain in average. Chamberlain checks in at 30.07 points per game, while Abdul-Jabbar sits at 24.61 points per contest.

Chamberlain is No. 2 on the NBA’s all-time scoring average list and No. 1 on the, “Wow, he was dominant,” list.

Chamberlain’s averaged 50.4 points per game in 1961-62 and 44.8 points per game in 1962-63. He scored 100 points in a single game, won seven scoring titles, and had seven seasons above 30.0 points per game.

When Chamberlain intentionally cut his scoring down in 1966-67, he still averaged 24.1 points on 68.3 percent shooting from the field.

Chamberlain was a 7’1″ and 300-plus pound goliath with superior explosiveness, speed, and agility to Shaquille O’Neal. Thus, the talk that he only dominated because of the era he played in is unfounded.

As previously alluded to, it’s Abdul-Jabbar who leads centers—and all players in NBA history—with 38,387 career points scored.

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It’s Chamberlain whose dominance can be seen in his per game average.