Since the 2000-01 season, only eight players have scored 60 points or more in a game, and 13 total instances. Most recently it was Devin Booker, who scored 70 points last year. The rest of the list: Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant six times, Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Klay Thompson.
Which NBA player will score 60 points next? Here’s who you guessed.
Only eight players have scored 60 points since the 2000-01 season. It’s really hard! Here are the players we think have a chance.
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We’ve seen random role players like Terrance Ross, Corey Brewer and Andre Miller pop off for 50-point games. That’s a beloved happenstance, when players we never would have expected break an elite scoring plateau. But players like that don’t score 60. Scoring 60 is hard. You saw the list in the first paragraph: you’re either a Hall of Fame lock or pure scorer prone to heating up in extreme ways. (Miss you, Agent Zero.)
Who will be the next player to score 60? I love hypotheticals like this, because it can so easily blend fan bias and actual expectations as we examine the players who best fit the 60-point mold. We posed the question on our Twitter.
Here were your answers.
How it would happen: I believe this is the most likely option of them all. The Boston Celtics are a great team, but they’re great because of their defense. Offensively, Kyrie Irving still runs a one-man show. He has fantastic complementary pieces around him, and Al Horford can create some shots if you need him to, but it’s mostly Irving.
One of these games, Irving will start hot and just keep on shooting. The opponent will stay home on Boston’s shooters, and it’ll give Irving easy driving lanes to the rim. He’ll heat up from behind the arc in the second half, and before you know it, he’ll have 60. Irving has prior games of 55 and 57, so this seems reasonable. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: Harden scored 56 points in one of the most impossibly efficient games I’ve ever seen earlier this year. Harden is naturally efficient — he only took 25 shots that game. If he had taken 30, he would have had 60-plus points. One of these days, he’s bound to shoot a little more often, with the same efficiency, and break the 60-point plateau when it seems like he’s hardly even trying. I have Irving’s chances slightly above his, but Harden’s not far off. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: As Prada notes, this is an excellent sleeper pick. Walker’s career high is 52 points, but his increasingly good three-point shot gives him a chance to heat up, inferno level, one game. It also helps that Charlotte relies on him so heavily, and that the Hornets rarely blow opponents out, so Walker will have plenty of chances. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: If Gilbert Arenas can get 60 points, so can Lillard. Someone photoshop their heads onto that Spiderman meme, where the two Spidermans are pointing at each other. (OK, they’re not the exact same player, but you see some similarities, right?) — Tim Cato
How it would happen: It did not happen against his former team, despite Matt’s best guess. Cousins did have 38 points in that game, however. In an increasingly small league, Cousins is the exception. He could find a certain matchup where he bullies his way for a dozen cheap points off put backs, while hitting six threes or so. He’s be two-thirds of the way there already — just get him 20 more points somewhere else.
It might need to happen in a game where Anthony Davis is out, or another team where Cousins is once again the lead scorer. Still, it’s certainly plausible. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: I like this answer, even if Cousins has a slightly better chance of scoring 60 before Embiid does. But the way Embiid would be like his preseason debut this year, when he scored 22 points in 15 minutes. In that game against Brooklyn, Embiid was simply much large than any defender that the Nets had. He went to the line 18 times, and once those fouls start adding up and backups are having to test Embiid, things could get real ugly.
I think the rest of Embiid’s game is still a few years off from putting together this many points in a single outing, but you never know. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: By now, you’ve probably figured out this list started in order but now is just a free-for-all. Booker would be quite a bit higher if we were actually trying to rank these in order. He has done it once, and he’s on a team that has nothing to lose. One hot half, with 30 points or so, and Phoenix will spend the final 24 minutes trying to get him the record. Why not? — Tim Cato
Klay Thompson
How it would happen: Thompson is another already-done-it on this list. He scored his first 60-pointer while holding the ball for just 90 seconds, which almost seems like an impossible stat but is very real. Basically, Thompson is always a threat to explode, and nothing special even needs to happen. He just needs a few open shots and it’s all over. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: Like Curry below, Durant’s career-high is just 54 and his chances are now limited by the Warriors’ excellence. They blow out too many teams, and have too many mouths to feed, to make a singular scoring explosion this large that likely. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: Curry is probably going to go down as the greatest shooter of all time. That fact alone makes a fairly strong case for the Warriors’ superstar point guard. Though he hasn’t had a 50 point game since February of 2016, he’s had so many flurries stopped short because the Warriors are so dominant. It’s going to take a close game against a dominant scoring team like, say, the Rockets to get it done. And I can see it coming this season. — Michael Sykes
How it would happen: Over the last season and change, Bradley Beal has become one of the NBA’s elite scorers. He’s had six 40 point games over that span including his 51 point outburst against the Trail Blazers this season.
When things get tough for the Wizards, they know they can rely on Beal as a scorer. It’ll take a close game and, maybe, a shot attempt total hitting the mid-to-high 30s, but he can get the job done. — Michael Sykes
How it would happen: I don’t know. I know Mitchell scored 41 points the other night, but 60 is a lot more than 41. This seems a bit premature, but I still got as many answers for Mitchell as any other player. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: Victor Oladipo has been unleashed in Indiana. He also just spent a year with Russell Westbrook so he has an idea of how to take over a game himself. He’ll get hot from behind the arc and then the Pacers are such an unselfish team they’ll just feed him all night. — Whitney Medworth
How it would happen: On this year’s Knicks team, Porzingis could easily take 35 shots in a random game. That’s doable. — Tim Cato
How it would happen: Whitney
Picture a late regular season game in April. Playoff standings are already set for both teams, so nothing is at stake. Lance Stephenson plays 48 minutes, never passes the ball once, scores 60 points. — Whitney Medworth
How it would happen: I’m surprised only one person answered it Antetokounmpo. I know his lack of three-point shooting makes it more difficult, but Antetokounmpo is also big enough to go to the line 25 times under the right circumstances.
How it would happen: The most Kobe Bryant thing ever would be to come back for one game, score 60 points, and then retire again. You hadn’t thought of it, but man, now you’re convinced it’s going to happen. I’m certainly convinced it’s going to happen.
The only correct answer
How it would happen: There are many good answers here. This is the only correct one. Thank you, Phillip, and please come to the front to collect your prize.
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