Just today, Harden is on his way to new heights in his career. As the league's top scorer, his total score officially broke the 25,000-point mark, becoming the 24th superstar in history to achieve this achievement, and it is definitely not an exaggeration to say that he is a phenomenal scorer. For Harden, he has solid scoring skills, as proven by the three-time scoring title, and he is also recognized as an iron man, so it makes sense to score 25,000 points. It took Harden 15 years to set this record, and Duncan took 18 years, so what about the likes of Zhan, Kobe and Jordan?
Harden was drafted in 2009, when he debuted as a scout, won the Sixth Man of the Year with the Thunder, joined the Rockets and became the scoring champion, and has been at the top of the pyramid ever since. Now 15 seasons have passed, and Harden has also become a veteran of the league, and he has switched to the Clippers to become a playmaker. Throughout Harden's career, he averaged 24.5 points per game, which is good enough, breaking 25,000 points in 15 seasons, which is definitely a great performance.
Duncan is the best power forward of all time, and as the top pick in 1997, Duncan can be described as the peak of his debut. Duncan is a representative of both offense and defense, and there are few shortcomings on the court. However, Duncan's scoring explosiveness is not strong, and his season-high score is only 25.5 points, which has never been at the level of a scoring champion. He averaged 19 points per game in his career, and in his 18th year, he managed to enter the 25,000-point club.
Kobe Bryant and Harden have many similarities, they both made their debuts off the bench and eventually counterattacked to become the scoring champion and MVP, which is admirable. However, Kobe Bryant became famous earlier, he won the championship and scoring title early, and led the Lakers to a dynasty at his peak. Kobe Bryant averaged 25 points per game in his career, slightly better than Harden, who scored 25,000 points in 14 seasons, which is also a little faster than Harden.
Durant is Harden's former big brother, and his career has also been on multiple teams, playing for the Thunder, Warriors, Nets and Suns. As a draft pick in 2007, Durant is also 35 years old, but he is still very destructive on the offensive end, and he still has the strength to average 30 points per game. Looking back at Durant's career, he averaged 27.3 points per game, and he, like Kobe, scored 25,000 points in 14 seasons.
James is the face of the league and the oldest active star. From 2003 to 2023, James ushered in the 21st season of his career, but he still performed well. In his career scoring per game, Lao Zhan and Durant are on par, and he can average 27.2 points per game. However, James had a higher attendance rate, so it only took him 13 seasons to break the 25,000-point mark.
Jordan is widely regarded as the god of basketball, and he is the most gifted guard of all time, playing to the extreme on both ends of the floor. The gang leader has won 10 scoring titles in his career, which can only be described as terrifying. He was unstoppable in his prime, averaging 30.1 points per game in his career. He scored 25,000 points in just 12 seasons, which is an admirable existence.