Compare · 39 players · 7 decades

Compare NBA greats

Pick two to four players, from Bob Cousy to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and put their regular-season careers side by side: totals, averages, shooting and honours. Tap any number for its source and the date we checked it.

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39PlayersNBA debuts from 1950 to 2018
786Numberseach with its source
2–4At a timepick, add, remove

Regular season, through 2025–26

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Pick your players

We start with Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Add a player with “+ Add” and remove one with ×. “Copy link” gives you an address that opens exactly this comparison.

Quick picksJordan and LeBronBird and MagicRussell and ChamberlainKobe and ShaqFour centresFour point guardsStars of the 2020s

Jordan1980s debutJames2000s debutAbdul-Jabbar1960s debut
Career
First and last season1984–85 to 2002–032003–04 to 2025–261969–70 to 1988–89
NBA seasons played152320
Games1,0721,6221,560
Career totals
Points32,29243,44038,387
Rebounds6,67212,09517,440
Assists5,63312,0165,660
Steals2,5142,417–
Blocks––3,189
Three-pointers made5812,6361
Per game
Points per game30.126.824.6
Rebounds per game6.27.511.2
Assists per game5.37.43.6
Steals per game2.31.50.9
Blocks per game0.80.72.6
Shooting
Field goal percentage %49.7%50.7%55.9%
Three-point percentage %32.7%34.8%5.6%
Free throw percentage %83.5%73.7%72.1%
Honours
MVP awards546
NBA championships646
Finals MVP awards642
All-Star selections142219
All-NBA First Team101310
Hall of Fame year2009active1995

Data: Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, in the versions of mid-October 2026; selected, rounded and partly recalculated by Box Score Stories. The CSV export carries the same note and every source.

Method

How to read the numbers

Regular season only

Every total and average is a regular-season NBA number from Wikipedia: the NBA career leader lists and the statistics table in each player’s article. Playoff records are on our record board. ABA seasons are not included: Julius Erving and Moses Malone have a note under their values, and where Wikipedia has no NBA-only number the cell says “no data”.

What was not counted yet

The NBA has counted steals and blocks since 1973–74 and threes since 1979–80. For careers that began earlier, those totals cover only part of the career, so we leave them out of the colours. Three-point percentage gets a colour only from 250 made threes.

Honours and eras

Awards come from the honours in each player’s Wikipedia article, Hall of Fame years from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Active players are counted through the 2025–26 season. NBA.com's terms do not allow its statistics to be used on commercial websites, so we do not use them. A scoring average from the 1960s and one from today were made in very different games: see how the eras changed the numbers.

In the comparison

39 players from seven decades

Grouped by the season of their NBA debut. We add players as we check their numbers; if you are missing someone, write to us.

NBA debut in the 1950s

Bob Cousy · Bob Pettit · Bill Russell · Elgin Baylor · Wilt Chamberlain

NBA debut in the 1960s

Oscar Robertson · Jerry West · John Havlicek · Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

NBA debut in the 1970s

Julius Erving · Moses Malone · Larry Bird · Magic Johnson

NBA debut in the 1980s

Isiah Thomas · Michael Jordan · Hakeem Olajuwon · Charles Barkley · John Stockton · Karl Malone · David Robinson

NBA debut in the 1990s

Shaquille O'Neal · Kevin Garnett · Kobe Bryant · Allen Iverson · Tim Duncan · Dirk Nowitzki

NBA debut in the 2000s

LeBron James · Dwyane Wade · Chris Paul · Kevin Durant · Russell Westbrook · Stephen Curry · James Harden

NBA debut in the 2010s

Kawhi Leonard · Giannis Antetokounmpo · Nikola Jokić · Joel Embiid · Luka Dončić · Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

All sources of this comparison (74)
  1. Data: Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 (licence) checked 2026-10-21
  2. Wikipedia: List of NBA career scoring leaders (version of 25 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  3. Wikipedia: List of NBA career rebounding leaders (version of 18 July 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  4. Wikipedia: List of NBA career assists leaders (version of 9 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  5. Wikipedia: List of NBA career steals leaders (version of 4 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  6. Wikipedia: List of NBA career blocks leaders (version of 7 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  7. Wikipedia: List of NBA career 3-point scoring leaders (version of 30 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  8. Wikipedia: List of NBA career free throw scoring leaders (version of 9 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  9. Wikipedia: Bob Cousy (version of 3 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  10. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Bob Cousy checked 2026-10-21
  11. Wikipedia: Bob Pettit (version of 11 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  12. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Bob Pettit checked 2026-10-21
  13. Wikipedia: Bill Russell (version of 13 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  14. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Bill Russell checked 2026-10-21
  15. Wikipedia: Elgin Baylor (version of 25 July 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  16. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Elgin Baylor checked 2026-10-21
  17. Wikipedia: Wilt Chamberlain (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  18. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Wilt Chamberlain checked 2026-10-21
  19. Wikipedia: Oscar Robertson (version of 7 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  20. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Oscar Robertson checked 2026-10-21
  21. Wikipedia: Jerry West (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  22. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Jerry West checked 2026-10-21
  23. Wikipedia: John Havlicek (version of 23 August 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  24. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: John Havlicek checked 2026-10-21
  25. Wikipedia: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  26. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar checked 2026-10-21
  27. Wikipedia: Julius Erving (version of 27 August 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  28. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Julius Erving checked 2026-10-21
  29. Wikipedia: Moses Malone (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  30. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Moses Malone checked 2026-10-21
  31. Wikipedia: Larry Bird (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  32. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Larry Bird checked 2026-10-21
  33. Wikipedia: Magic Johnson (version of 13 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  34. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Magic Johnson checked 2026-10-21
  35. Wikipedia: Isiah Thomas (version of 1 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  36. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Isiah Thomas checked 2026-10-21
  37. Wikipedia: Michael Jordan (version of 14 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  38. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Michael Jordan checked 2026-10-21
  39. Wikipedia: Hakeem Olajuwon (version of 14 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  40. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Hakeem Olajuwon checked 2026-10-21
  41. Wikipedia: Charles Barkley (version of 10 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  42. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Charles Barkley checked 2026-10-21
  43. Wikipedia: John Stockton (version of 10 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  44. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: John Stockton checked 2026-10-21
  45. Wikipedia: Karl Malone (version of 10 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  46. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Karl Malone checked 2026-10-21
  47. Wikipedia: David Robinson (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  48. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: David Robinson checked 2026-10-21
  49. Wikipedia: Shaquille O'Neal (version of 14 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  50. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Shaquille O'Neal checked 2026-10-21
  51. Wikipedia: Kevin Garnett (version of 28 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  52. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Kevin Garnett checked 2026-10-21
  53. Wikipedia: Kobe Bryant (version of 13 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  54. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Kobe Bryant checked 2026-10-21
  55. Wikipedia: Allen Iverson (version of 6 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  56. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Allen Iverson checked 2026-10-21
  57. Wikipedia: Tim Duncan (version of 8 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  58. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Tim Duncan checked 2026-10-21
  59. Wikipedia: Dirk Nowitzki (version of 9 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  60. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Dirk Nowitzki checked 2026-10-21
  61. Wikipedia: LeBron James (version of 13 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  62. Wikipedia: Dwyane Wade (version of 4 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  63. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Dwyane Wade checked 2026-10-21
  64. Wikipedia: Chris Paul (version of 11 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  65. Wikipedia: Kevin Durant (version of 21 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  66. Wikipedia: Russell Westbrook (version of 3 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  67. Wikipedia: Stephen Curry (version of 4 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  68. Wikipedia: James Harden (version of 26 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  69. Wikipedia: Kawhi Leonard (version of 30 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  70. Wikipedia: Giannis Antetokounmpo (version of 13 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  71. Wikipedia: Nikola Jokić (version of 4 September 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  72. Wikipedia: Joel Embiid (version of 28 July 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  73. Wikipedia: Luka Dončić (version of 12 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21
  74. Wikipedia: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (version of 5 October 2026) checked 2026-10-21

Data: Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; Hall of Fame years: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@boxscorestories.com.

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RecordsWho holds the record?Career, season, game, playoffs.Record board →ErasCompare seasons1959–60 to 2025–26, side by side.Compare seasons →StatsTS%, PER, Win SharesFormulas with worked examples.Stats explained →

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