Who could average 50 pts/g (efficiently) if their team allowed and needed it?

[PotOdds]

56. He was 20yo. 18 of 36 fgs. 6 of 12 3s. 14 of 15 fts. Did it against Bosh and the Raptors. But we all know he's better now.

Just curious...what is LeBron's career high?

[SacJB Shady]

Steph Curry. Even if his 3 point percentage fell from 45 to 35 percent, he would just need to go 15/42 a game. His field goal percentage would still be the equivalent of 50 percent.

[LAZERUSS]

56. He was 20yo. 18 of 36 fgs. 6 of 12 3s. 14 of 15 fts. Did it against Bosh and the Raptors. But we all know he's better now.

Agree that LeBron is a considerably better player today, but one reason is that he is more selective in his shooting.

Interesting, too, that a prime Kobe shelled that same Raptors team for 81 points the very next season.

The point being, that even scoring 60 is a rarity. Robinson's 71 came in a meaningless game, and against a team that had no interest in even being on the floor. Bird's 60 came in a game in which the opposing players were cheering him on. Shaq's 61 came against the lowly Clippers in a blowout win, in a game in which he played 45 minutes, and was "guarded" for nearly half of it by a 6-7 bench player.

You could argue that Chamberlain's 100 point game was also a circus, but at least to the Knick's credit, they did everything they could to keep him from hitting the century mark.

Furthermore, Chamberlain had six 70+ point games in his career, including one against 6-11 HOFer Walt Bellamy, in which he outscored Belamy 73-35, while grabbing 36 rebounds, and shooting 29-48 from the field. Imagine scoring 35 points in a game, and being outscored by the opposing player by 38 points?

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Kevin Durant. His shooting splits would be 48/40/89

[LAZERUSS]

Kevin Durant. His shooting splits would be 48/40/89

Here again, what is KD's career high game?

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Here again, what is KD's career high game?

52. Whats your point? KD scores within the flow of the offense the purpose of the thread is if his team and him allowed it. KD is a way better scorer than Wilt who averaged 50 OKC can play at the highest pace if they want and get him way more possessions.

[SacJB Shady]

Nobody had more points in a game this year than curry

[LAZERUSS]

52. Whats your point? KD scores within the flow of the offense the purpose of the thread is if his team and him allowed it. KD is a way better scorer than Wilt who averaged 50 OKC can play at the highest pace if they want and get him way more possessions.

No question that Durant is a better overall shooter than Wilt, but better scorer? Shaq couldn't shoot from eight feet, but had seasons of nearly 30 ppg, and finals of as high as 38 ppg. And he wasn't the shooter, nor scorer, that Wilt was.

In Wilt's 68-69 season, when he hardly shot the ball, SI ran article claiming that Wilt could no longer score. Wilt caught wind of the article, and the night before it hit the newstands, he hung a 60 point game on the Royals. And a few days later he poured in 66 points, on 29-35 shooting. Over the course of 17 straight games, he averaged 31.1 ppg. And the very next season, at age 33, his new coach asked him to focus on scoring again, and he responded by leading the league over the first nine games, at 32.2 ppg, and on .579 shooting. Unfortunately, "Superman" shredded his knee, and was never quite the same after that. Still, on a knee that had had major knee surgery just four months prior, Wilt put up a 23.2 ppg, 24.1 rpg, .625 FG% Finals (the only 20-20 .600 Finals in NBA history), which included a "must-win" game six of 45 points, on 20-27 shooting, with 27 rebounds.

Most at the time believed that you could give Wilt a number, and he would reach it. Not sure the same can be said for KD.

[OldSkoolball#52]

Well we know that kobe couldnt do it bc hes tried to every season and hasnt been able to.

The three candidates who could come the closest given the criteria (50 pts and reasonable efficiency) would be Dirk, Durant, and Lebron. But even they couldn't do it, the primary reason that nobody could realistically do it is that as soon as a player started to string together a few 50 point games in a row, opponents would just start to sell out on denying them the ball or double teaming and forcing them to give it up soon as they get it. If the hypothetical assumes that opponents don't adjust (unrealistic) and just play traditional D each game, I could see someone going as high as 45. But again this requires that you postulate someone doing it over a random 82 game stretch in theory. In practice opponents would quickly catch on and prevent it

[Trollsmasher]

Kevin Durant. His shooting splits would be 48/40/89

Lets not act liek Durant is ever going to take more than 20 shots or take something even remotely close to a bad shot.

His overselectiveness pi**es me off.

[Scholar]

Absolutely nobody in the NBA could average 50 ppg unless their respective team only had the player play solely against scrub teams like the Bobcats, against whom even Deron Williams dropped 57 pts in 2011-12, while intentionally sitting the guy out against all other teams.

Even the worst teams in the league would adjust their defenses to deny the player the ball and/or double (even triple) team the player when needed. Odds are Kobe's 35.4 ppg from 2005-06 will be the highest mark we'll see for many years to come.

[clayton]

Durant can. 50 free throws per game. Hence the name KDwhistle.

[Scholar]

Kevin Durant. His shooting splits would be 48/40/89

Are those his free throw attempts in order to average 50 per game? Some nights he'll need a measly 40 FTAs, while other nights will require up to 89.

[KOBE143]

Today's league..

Kobe in his prime easily..

[gman]

wilt....

lebron might be able to if you put him on the bobcats, but impossible to tell. i still doubt it