Bit of a boxing lesson real quick. For most of boxing’s history, there have been multiple entities that have handed out championship belts. An “undisputed champ” occurs when one boxer holds all the belts for his weight class at the same time. I’m using a bit of that logic here for scoring champs.
For most* of NBA history, we just consider the scoring champ to be the player that led the league in points per game for the regular season. What I’m doing is adding 3 additional belts:
Regular Season Total Points
Playoff Points Per Game
Playoff Total Points
Regular Season PPG is understandably the default scoring champ, but leading the league in any of those other categories gives a player a legitimate, albeit smaller, claim to being the best scorer that season.
With all that said, here is every instance where a player led the league in all 4 categories, which gives them the undisputed scoring championship belt that season:
Season | Player |
---|---|
2013-14 | Kevin Durant |
1999-00 | Shaquille O’Neal |
1997-98 | Michael Jordan |
1996-97 | Michael Jordan |
1995-96 | Michael Jordan |
1992-93 | Michael Jordan |
1991-92 | Michael Jordan |
1990-91 | Michael Jordan |
1989-90 | Michael Jordan |
1988-89 | Michael Jordan |
1981-82 | George Gervin |
1966-67 | Rick Barry |
1963-64 | Wilt Chamberlain |
1949-50 | George Mikan |
1948-49 | George Mikan |
1946-47 | Joe Fulks |
There were 15 seasons where a player was just 1 best away from being the undisputed scoring champ:
Season | RS PPG Leader | RS Total Points Leader | Playoff PPG Leader | Playoff Total Points Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|
2023-24 | Luka Doncic | Luka Doncic | Joel Embiid | Luka Doncic |
2017-18 | James Harden | LeBron James | LeBron James | LeBron James |
2016-17 | Russell Westbrook | Russell Westbrook | Russell Westbrook | LeBron James |
2010-11 | Kevin Durant | Kevin Durant | Kevin Durant | Dirk Nowitzki |
2007-08 | LeBron James | Kobe Bryant | Kobe Bryant | Kobe Bryant |
2006-07 | Kobe Bryant | Kobe Bryant | Kobe Bryant | LeBron James |
2004-05 | Allen Iverson | Allen Iverson | Allen Iverson | Tim Duncan |
1986-87 | Michael Jordan | Michael Jordan | Michael Jordan | Larry Bird |
1979-80 | George Gervin | George Gervin | George Gervin | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar |
1978-79 | George Gervin | George Gervin | George Gervin | Gus Williams |
1977-78 | George Gervin | George Gervin | George Gervin | Elvin Hayes |
1974-75 | Bob McAdoo | Bob McAdoo | Bob McAdoo | Rick Barry |
1971-72 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Walt Frazier |
1950-51 | George Mikan | George Mikan | George Mikan | Arnie Risen |
1947-48 | Joe Fulks | Max Zaslofsky | Joe Fulks | Joe Fulks |
*note from 1947-69, the scoring champ was awarded to the player with the most total points in the regular season.
Jordan has so many factoids like this. My favorite: only 6 times has a player won the scoring title, MVP, and Finals MVP in the same year, and 4 of them were Jordan.