The spotlight shines bright on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as he approaches one of Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring records.
After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar finally surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s mark for the most points scored in NBA history, the latter was gracious in an April 1984 ceremony at the Forum, then the Lakers’ arena, congratulating and dapping up Abdul-Jabbar as home fans cheered.
Later, though, it rankled Chamberlain that such a big deal was made about someone chasing down a record that few had celebrated as it was being set. He noted the fine Mercedes-Benz motorcar Abdul-Jabbar was gifted for the accomplishment, saying “nobody gave me a popsicle.”
Then he touched on the challenge that faces pioneers, trailblazers and the first-in across all pursuits and eras: When is enough enough?
“If I had known you were going to break my record,” Chamberlain said – not just of Abdul-Jabbar but of all rivals, “I would have put it a lot farther out of reach.”
The Dipper (Chamberlain’s preferred nickname) probably would think the same now that Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the brink of matching and topping another of the big man’s Bunyan-esque scoring achievements.
From Oct. 19, 1961 through Jan. 19, 1963 – 14 months on the calendar, a season and a half on the NBA schedule – Chamberlain scored at least 20 points in 126 consecutive games. Now the Thunder’s MVP guard is days away from that mark; assuming he scores 20 or more Saturday against Golden State, SGA can tie Wilt’s mark against Denver on Monday and make it his own against Boston on Thursday. Each is an OKC home game.
It’s kind of a manufactured “record,” to which no one paid much attention until Gilgeous-Alexander started stacking games on Nov. 1, 2024. He kept it up through the rest of 2024-25 and right into this season. It doesn’t have the luster or notoriety of Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941 in baseball. And it’s not one of the NBA’s Mount Rushmore records, like Wilt’s 100-point game, Michael Jordan’s 10 scoring titles, LeBron James passing Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) in 2023 and extending the points mark by another 5K, or – the league’s holy grail – Bill Russell’s 11 championship rings in 13 seasons.
Still, once someone wonders, “Has anyone done this before?” and the answer comes back, “Yeah, Wilt,” people do perk up. No one else in NBA history has had a streak of 20-point nights hit triple digits. Oscar Robertson got to 79 games. Jordan and Kevin Durant maxed out at 72. Abdul-Jabbar reached 71; Kobe Bryant, 63; and LeBron James’ 49 rank 21st.
Unstoppable Force vs. King of the Counters
Wilt Chamberlain, an unstoppable player in the paint, won 4 MVP awards, was named to 13 All-Star teams and won the NBA title twice during his Hall of Fame career.
It says much about the sport, too, that Chamberlain and Gilgeous-Alexander took such different paths to the same destination.
Chamberlain was the game’s most unstoppable force – bigger and stronger than predecessor George Mikan, more skilled, athletic and powerful than the bigs who followed. At 7-foot-1 and 275 pounds, he dominated not just the alleged “plumbers and firemen” who populated the league – as Lakers coach JJ Redick snarkily claimed on his old podcast – but a staggering list Hall of Famers (Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Rusell, Elvin Hayes, Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy, Bob Lanier, Wes Unseld, Bob Pettit, Nate Thurmond and more).
His dunking was ferocious, capable of breaking a careless defender’s wrist on the rim, many feared. But he had other moves, from a reliable jumper to his finger rolls and fadeaway bank shots. Then there were his free throws – he took an NBA record 11.35 per game, though his notorious struggle from the foul line was one of the few breaks he gave opponents. Had Chamberlain merely sank the league average of about 73% (he shot 51.1%) he would have pushed his career scoring average to from 30.1 to 32.7.
“Wilt was the greatest offensive player I have ever seen,” said Russell, widely considered the greatest defender. “Because his talents and skills were so super-human, his play forced me to play at my highest level. If I didn’t, I’d risk embarrassment and our team would likely lose.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earns the nod as a starter for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
Gilgeous-Alexander is an entirely different scorer, a ball handler with elusive moves, a green light in the mid-range like few others in the modern NBA, and a knack for drawing fouls that drives foes and their fans to distraction.
“You gotta keep him off the free throw line, which is hard,” James said in December. “He uses these angles, he knows how to manipulate the game, in a good way. He knows what to do, what not to do, he’s always looking for hands and arms and elbows if you’re in his space.”
Said the OKC guard early this season: “If they stop something, I have a few counters. And if they stop those, I have a few more counters.”
Not all scoring streaks are created equal: Chamberlain averaged 49.2 points in his 126 games, way beyond the 20-point threshold to keep it alive. In fact, he scored 30 or more 120 times during the streak, with 65 games of at least 50, 22 of 60 and five of at least 70, including the legendary 100 on March 2, 1962.
Wilt’s streak ended on Jan. 20, 1963 when he was ejected just four minutes into a game in St. Louis, exiting with six points after arguing about a foul call on a teammate. Not to worry, though: On Feb. 26, he started another streak of 20-pointers that reached 92 games.
By the Numbers
Through his first seven seasons, before Chamberlain began to shift his focus to passing and defense (winning titles in 1967 and 1972), he scored at least 20 in 528 of 543 games. He won scoring titles each year and posted double-doubles in 968 of the 1,045 games he played.
Gilgeous-Alexander, in 514 games across eight seasons, has hit or topped 20 points 365 times. He’s had five games of 50 or more, 18 in the 40s and 84 with at least 30. There have been only two games in which he kept the streak alive by just scoring 20.
The Thunder star has averaged 32.5 points during his streak, totaling 4,030 points to Chamberlain’s 6,193. And despite all the complaints about his free throw opportunities, he has averaged 8.13 points on 9.08 foul shots during the streak. Wilt got to the line 2,048 times in his 126 games, making 1,247.
One area in which Gilgeous-Alexander’s streak outshines Chamberlain’s is in its fit within the team – OKC has gone 100-24, compared to the Warriors’ 66-60 mark during Wilt’s. It has been more of a “thing” for the Thunder than it was for anyone 64 years ago, but it hasn’t gotten in the way or stubbed teammates’ toes. Gilgeous-Alexander’s work habits and consistency won them over long ago.
“He is ruthlessly consistent in the invisible spaces that I see but you guys don’t,” said coach Mark Daigneault. “And there’s probably 100 more that I don’t see. It’s no accident – he has chiseled himself into this player.”
Consecutive games of 20 points might not have the heft of a 30-point streak (Chamberlain, 65), never mind 40 (Chamberlain, 14 twice) or 50 (Chamberlain, 7). It’s not gaudy or mind-boggling like some of Wilt’s other numbers: 50.4 ppg and 48.5 minutes per game in 1961-62, 4,029 points (only Jordan one time barely cracked 3,000), 55 rebounds in a 1960 game against Russell, 124 nights with at least 30 points and 30 boards (only 32 other such performances in NBA history) or his 70 games with at least 50 points and 25 rebounds (nine for everybody else).
But a nod Chamberlain gave to Abdul-Jabbar later in his life suggests he would have appreciated Gilgeous-Alexander’s pursuit and atomic-clock reliability.
“It’s a record of longevity, not a flash in the pan,” he said in 1994, of the all-time points total. “The important records are the ones that take an athlete many games or years to amass. Anyone can have a great game, but having 1,000 good games has more significance.”
Or in this case, 127.
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
