Video: Giannis Antetokounmpo reflects on his 59-point game vs. Detroit
Video: Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo reflects on his 59-point performance in an overtime victory over the Detroit Pisons.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is now one of the top 60 scorers in NBA history — or just outside the top 70, depending on how you tabulate your numbers.
Antetokounmpo is 64th all-time when combining NBA and American Basketball Association stats (the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976 but featured some of the best talent in the sport beginning in 1967).
Here’s a look at who Giannis recently passed and who’s next on the list.
Stats are courtesy of Basketball Reference, as of Jan. 7, 2025.
The jumpshot specialist from Illinois isn’t a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame but has a higher point total than many who are, the result of 17 productive seasons in the NBA from 1981-99. Though he was a regular starter with Kansas City early in his career, he became known as a bench weapon, winning Sixth Man of the Year with Phoenix in 1989 and finishing top three for the award two other times. He never made an all-star team.
The Hall of Famer and five-time all-star was the leading scorer on the 1972 Lakers team that won the NBA championship, de-throning the reigning champion Bucks in the process (not to mention toppling Milwaukee’s record winning streak of 20 games with 33 wins of their own). He spent nine of his 14 NBA seasons with Los Angeles but also made an all-star team with the Suns.
The two-time all-star with the Chicago Bulls in the late 1970s played in the NBA through 1991, making stops with five different teams. He later became a head coach in college and with the Sacramento Kings.
Crawford has the most points in NBA history for any player who never made an all-star team, but he won the Sixth Man of the Year award three times and finished in the voting six others. He played 20 years in the NBA with nine stops, including five years with the Clippers and five with the Knicks.
Oddly enough, Antetokounmpo still needs to pass two other players who wore No. 34 for the Bucks, but Terry Cummings is running out of room (Ray Allen has some runway left). Cummings made both of his all-star teams in Milwaukee during a run from 1984-89, when he was an integral part of Don Nelson’s offense. He was also part of a blockbuster trade that sent Ricky Pierce and Craig Hodges to the Bucks from the Clippers in exchange for Marques Johnson, Harvey Catchings and current Bucks owner Junior Bridgeman. The 1983 rookie of the year with San Diego also played for San Antonio, Golden State and others, including a year back in Milwaukee in 1995-96.
Antetokounmpo doesn’t have many fellow international players left to pass; former teammate Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and Dirk Nowitzki are the last to catch. The French point guard (born in Belgium, technically) played 18 years in the league, all but one with San Antonio, where he made six all-star teams and averaged 15.5 points per game in his career. Parker won four NBA championships and is in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
The eight-time NBA all-star is known more for his rebounding prowess and defense but also scored a ton during his career, when he was named first-team All-NBA on five occasions. Spending the bulk of his 18-year career in Orlando and with the Lakers (finishing in 2022), he’s a three-time NBA defensive player of the year and five-time rebounding champ.
Damian Lillard has 2,433 more career points than Antetokounmpo. That’s a little more than one extra season’s worth of points.
Damian Lillard (21,819) just passed Gary Payton (21,813) for No. 38 on the list with his game against the Raptors on Jan. 6. Lillard also just passed Larry Bird (21,791) for 40th all time in a game against Portland on Jan. 4. Lillard now sets his sights on No. 37, Clyde Drexler (22,195), with 376 points to go.
343 points (No. 100 is Jeff Malone at 17,231)
Giannis averages 31.6 points per game in 2024-25. The Bucks have 48 games remaining, and if Giannis averages that mark while playing every remaining game, it’ll be worth 1,582 points, putting him at 20,902 for the year. As it stands now, that would rank him 43rd in NBA history. Antetokounmpo has never averaged that many points in a season and obviously isn’t likely to play all remaining games.
Antetokounmpo would be 64th all-time if we counted ABA players as well. Some players, such as George Gervin (46th all-time among NBA players but 19th overall in the combined category) played in both the ABA and NBA.
Players not ranked ahead of Giannis in the NBA rankings but would be ranked ahead of him in the overall rankings include:
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