The best players in the NBA are often the ones we see score the ball at a high and impactful level. Unfortunately, the history of the league shows that a highly talented individual scorer doesn’t always earn the tag of the best player in the league or even become an NBA Champion. After all, the last person to win the scoring title and a title in the same year was Shaquille O’Neal.
In the 23 seasons that have come after Shaq’s win in 1999-00, 11 players have led the league in scoring, but none of them won a title the same year they ensured nobody outscored them in the regular season.
1999-00: Shaquille O’Neal – 29.7 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship)
2000-01: Allen Iverson – 31.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2001-02: Allen Iverson – 31.4 PPG (Scoring Title)
2002-03: Tracy McGrady – 32.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2003-04: Tracy McGrady – 28.0 PPG (Scoring Title)
2004-05: Allen Iverson – 30.7 PPG (Scoring Title)
2005-06: Kobe Bryant – 35.4 PPG (Scoring Title)
2006-07: Kobe Bryant – 31.6 PPG (Scoring Title)
2007-08: LeBron James – 30.0 PPG (Scoring Title)
2008-09: Dwyane Wade – 30.2 PPG (Scoring Title)
2009-10: Kevin Durant – 30.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2010-11: Kevin Durant – 27.7 PPG (Scoring Title)
2011-12: Kevin Durant – 28.0 PPG (Scoring Title)
2012-13: Carmelo Anthony – 28.7 PPG (Scoring Title)
2013-14: Kevin Durant – 32.0 PPG (Scoring Title)
2014-15: Russell Westbrook – 28.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2015-16: Stephen Curry – 30.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2016-17: Russell Westbrook – 31.6 PPG (Scoring Title)
2017-18: James Harden – 30.4 PPG (Scoring Title)
2018-19: James Harden – 36.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
2019-20: James Harden – 34.3 PPG (Scoring Title)
2020-21: Stephen Curry – 32.0 PPG (Scoring Title)
2021-22: Joel Embiid – 30.6 PPG (Scoring Title)
2022-23: Joel Embiid – 33.1 PPG (Scoring Title)
There have been only 5 players who won the scoring title and an NBA championship in the same season. Michael Jordan is the only one to have achieved the feat six times. The feat has been repeated five other times.
1946-47: Joe Fulks – 23.2 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Philadelphia Warriors)
1948-49: George Mikan – 28.3 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Minneapolis Lakers)
1949-50: George Mikan – 27.4 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Minneapolis Lakers)
1970-71: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 31.7 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Milwaukee Bucks)
1990-91: Michael Jordan – 31.5 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1991-92: Michael Jordan – 30.1 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1992-93: Michael Jordan – 32.6 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1995-96: Michael Jordan – 30.4 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1996-97: Michael Jordan – 29.6 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1997-98: Michael Jordan – 28.7 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Chicago Bulls)
1999-00: Shaquille O’Neal – 29.7 PPG (Scoring Title & Championship With Los Angeles Lakers)
Being able to score is not a guarantee for championship success in the NBA. From all indicators, it seems if you have to lead the league in scoring in the regular season, your team simply doesn’t have enough weapons to make a championship run. Unless you’re Michael Jordan or the most dominant version of Shaquille O’Neal we have ever seen.
Who Will Be The Next Center Who Can Win The Scoring Title And NBA Championship?
Shaquille O’Neal and his 2000 MVP and title-winning season held multiple records until recently. Before the three-year streak of NBA MVPs being centers, we hadn’t seen a center since Shaq win the MVP award. Now that we are in the brightest age of big men in decades, it’s likely we see a center be the one that wins the scoring title and the NBA title in the same season.
Nikola Jokic won MVP two seasons in a row but won the title the year he couldn’t clinch the regular season crown. He’s never really been interested in leading the league in scoring, but it seems he could if needed to given he averaged over 30 points in the 2023 Playoffs. The likelihood of his scoring being high enough over the regular season to win the scoring title is slim, so he likely doesn’t make this list.
Joel Embiid has won consecutive scoring titles to earn consecutive second-round exits. He’s even been crowned the MVP now but the playoffs are a hump it seems he can’t cross. Out of all current centers, Embiid is the likeliest to score at a high enough clip in the regular season to win the scoring title. Whether he can win a title with the 76ers is the question, especially if he has to achieve both feats in the same season.
Victor Wembanyama could emerge one day as a scoring title holder who leads his team to a title, but that is a little down the line for us to discuss now. Outside of centers, the 23-24 scoring leader Luka Doncic could one day do it, but the Mavericks aren’t a title contender yet. Jayson Tatum could do it as a forward, but his teams are far too stacked for him to carry the scoring load like that.
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