Every NBA season multiple records are broken and new standards are set. The saying “records are made to be broken” is something that’s very applicable in the NBA. With more and more talent entering the league every season we continue to see milestones be reached that we thought we would never see met again. Here is a list of 10 records that were broken over the abbreviated 2019-2020 season.
Lebron James(pronounced Le-bron James) Passes Kobe Bryant(pronounced Co-bee Bry-ant) for 3rd on the All-Time Scoring List. On January 25th, 2020 in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers Lebron James scored his 33,644th point in the NBA which moved him into third on the all-time scoring list. In achieving the feet James passed good friend and NBA all-time great Kobe Bryant. As he came into the game only 18 points behind Bryant, he scribbled “Mamba 4 Life” on his sneakers hoping to pass the late Bryant who would tragically die in a helicopter crash the next day. The basket came with 7 minutes and 23 seconds left in the third quarter, the always rowdy Philadelphia crowd gave James a much-deserved standing ovation after the mark was announced by the public address announcer.
Last year James passed Michael Jordan(pronounced My-kull Jor-den) to move into 4th on the list and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before he passed Bryant. James currently sits in third with 34,087 points and has his sights set on the number two spot currently held by Karl Malone(pronounced Carl Ma-loan). James is currently 2,841 points behind Malone, with James averaging a little over 2,000 points a season for his career, he should pass Malone sometime during the 2021-2022 season. Comfortably sitting in 1st on the all-time list is another Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar(pronounced Kuh-reem Ab-dool juh-bar) with 38,387 points, which is 4,300 points ahead of James. Depending on how much longer James plays we could very well see him move into first on the all-time scoring list, which is a record many thought would never be broken.
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The day after James broke Bryant’s record the basketball world was shaken to its core when Bryant and 8 other passengers including his 13-year-old daughter tragically passed away in a helicopter crash. The last tweet Bryant sent was the one congratulating James for passing him on the scoring list. The tweet read “Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother #33,644.”
Vince Carter(pronounced Vince Carter) sets records for most consecutive seasons played. The 2019-2020 season was the 22nd consecutive season of Carter’s NBA Career. Now in his 22nd season, Carter is hardly what he used to be but that doesn’t make the feet any less amazing. Carter has played for eight different teams during the 22-year span but he spent his most notable years with the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. Since then Carter has turned into somewhat of a journeyman playing his next 10 years with 6 different teams. Unfortunately for Carter, who has played in 88 postseason games, he has never made it to the NBA Finals. Carter will undoubtedly be a first-ballot hall of famer and even though he never got the chance to showcase his talents in the NBA Finals he gave all of us one of the greatest performances in dunk contest history. In 2000 Carter put on a show at the dunk contest in Oakland, for many NBA fans, it’s regarded as the best performance ever put on in any dunk contest.
While there are several other players who sit behind Carter with 21 consecutive seasons Carter is also the only NBA player to play in 4 different decades. Carter who was drafted by the Toronto Raptors in 1998, has played in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010’s and 2020s.
Ja Morant(pronounced Jah Mo-rant) becomes the first player in history to record at least 25 points and 8 assists with a 90% field goal percentage. Morant has been on an absolute tear during his rookie season. Right now this young man is averaging 17 points per game and 7 assists while shooting almost 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from three. Those are impressive numbers for any player in the league let alone a rookie out of Murray State. Morant was likely on his way to winning rookie of the year before the 2019-2020 NBA season came to a halt. While Zion Williamson(pronounced Zi-on Will-yum-sun) was making a strong case of his own for rookie of the year, Morant actually had the Grizzlies in the 8th seed in the loaded Western Conference to many people surprise. What’s even more impressive about this accomplishment is that it’s a non-rookie related record, Morant is the only player in the history of the league to pull this off. Morant has been must-see TV all season long and has turned the Grind House in Memphis into an exciting place to play again. With Memphis also grabbing a running mate for him in the 2018 draft when the picked Jaren Jackson Jr.(pronounced Jair-in Jack-son Jr.), the Grizzlies will be a very exciting team for years to come.
James Harden(pronounced James Har-din) is the only player to ever have back to back 50 point games while hitting at least 10 three’s in each game. It’s not at all surprising to find Harden on a list like this. Over the past three seasons, Harden has been averaging over 30 points per game while also shooting over 35 percent from three. With the up and down style of basketball that the Rockets play we can probably expect to see more accomplishments like this from Harden over the years. The first half of Harden’s two-game record-breaking performance came against the Cleveland Cavaliers where he scored 55 points on 20 of 34 from the field and 10 of 18 from three. The second performance was against the Orlando Magic where he scored 54 points on 19 of 31 from field and 10 of 15 from three. This is one of the most incredible two-game stretches we have seen in recent years. Considering the number of games where Harden has taken at least 15 threes, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him break the single-game record for three-pointers which is 14 and was set by Klay Thompson(pronounced Clay Tomp-son) during the 2018-2019 season.
James Harden – Fewest shots taken in a 60 point game. We find Harden on the list again with another amazing scoring accomplishment. The is no debate that Harden is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. Earlier this season in a game against the Atlanta Hawks Harden scored 60 points on 16 of 24 shooting, he was also sent to free throw line 23 times and converted 20 of his 23 attempts. Now while the free throws are obviously one of the biggest factors that allowed Harden to get to 60 points on only 24 shots he was also 8 of 14 from three-point range, this means that 44 of those 60 points came either from three or from the free-throw line. It comes as no surprise that Rockets beat the Hawks that night by 47 points.
Trae Young(pronounced Tray Young) and James Harden become the first opposing players to record 40 point triple-doubles in the same game. We find Harden on our list again and again against the Atlanta Hawks, this time he had a partner in sophomore sensation Trae Young. While the headline sounds impressive it actually becomes less so when you dive into the numbers. Harden finished the game with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, he also shot 26 percent from the field and 20 percent from three which is hardly lighting it up. Another 23 trips to the free-throw line ended up saving the scorers night as he was able to convert 19 of those. Young who finished the game with 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists faired a little better from the field, Young shot 36 percent from the field and 36 percent from three while converting 16 of 18 free-throw attempts. While neither player was particularly efficient in their performances they both finished with stat lines that set an NBA record.
Luka Doncic(pronounced Loo-kuh Don-chitch) becomes the first player to record multiple triple-doubles in under 30 minutes while also becoming the only player to put up at least 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists in under 30 minutes. Doncic was a record-breaking machine during his first season and that has continued into his sophomore season. While Doncic has broken quite a few records already this season these two stand out because they have nothing to do with his age which a lot of his records do. Doncic broke both of these records earlier this year against the Golden State Warriors when he put up 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists on only 16 shots. While a lot of people have debated the significance of the triple-double, the numbers remain impressive none-the-less, especially when you take into account that Doncic is only 20 years old.
As we mentioned earlier Doncic has broken several records in regards to his age during the course of his second season. Those records include the most 30 point triple-doubles before the age of 21, youngest player to ever record consecutive 35 point triple-doubles and the only player with multiple triple-doubles before the age of 21. Doncic continues to impress during his second season and is considered to possibly be having one the greatest seasons for a 20-year-old in NBA history. If they are able to resume the 2019-2020 season and Doncic continues on the pace he is at he would finish with more points and assists than any player at his age ever.
Lebron James becomes the only player with 9,000 rebounds and 9,000 assists. We find James on our list again which shouldn’t surprise anyone by this point. When it’s all said and done for James his name will be all over the NBA record books. James is already regarded by many as the greatest player of all time and he just continues to add to his resume. James has averaged at least 7 rebounds and 7 assists for every season of his career which makes it hard to see anyone ever cathing him with this record. Right now some can possibly see Luka Doncic being able to challenge this as his career progresses but for now, James sits alone.
James also became the first player to record a triple-double against every team but that record was tied later in the season by Russell Westbrook(pronounced Russ-ull West-brook).
Lou Williams(pronounced Lue Will-yums) set the record for most 20 point scoring games off the bench. Williams has been a career sixth man and it seems that he prefers it that way. Williams has been so good off the bench throughout his career that he has taken home 3 of the last 5 sixth man of the year awards. Williams broke the record earlier this season where he scored 21 points against the New York Knicks, this was his 200th 20 point scoring game coming off the bench. While Williams is technically a sixth man he averages around 30 minutes a game which is more than a lot of starters in the league, Williams is also often in the game to finish it off when things are on the line. Williams has always been a great X factor for his teams coming off the bench with the ability to put points in bunches. Some people think Williams shouldn’t be eligible for these awards or records due the minutes he plays, but until someone changes the rules he will be considered arguably the best sixth man in the league.
Golden State Warriors lose their first two games of the season by a combined 47 points which the largest point differential for any team that played in the NBA Finals the year before. Coming off five straight trips to the finals the Warriors had become the NBA’s gold standard. During their run, they won three NBA championships and set a single-season record for most wins with 73 during the 2015-2016 season. While there were periods during their run in which they looked completely unbeatable we knew that wouldn’t be the case this year. With the departure of Kevin Durant(pronounced Kev-in Dur-ant) and injury to Klay Thompson we knew the Warriors wouldn’t be the same team this year but we didn’t think they would be quite this bad.
The Warriors were able to add All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell(pronounced Dee-an-ge-lo Russ-ull) during the 2019 offseason but with an early-season injury to Steph Curry(pronounced Steff Curr-ee) and Thompson being out for the season the Warriors were not even close to the same team. Currently, the Warriors sit at the bottom of the NBA with 15-50 record and made an in-season trade to acquire former number one pick, Andrew Wiggins(pronounced An-drew Wigg-ins) sending Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Next season the Warriors will likely have one of the top picks in the NBA draft and will return Thompson, Curry, Green and Wiggins which should be pretty formidable in a loaded Western Conference. So while they may be down, for now, the Warriors won’t be out for long.
That concludes our list of insane records broken during the 2019-2020 season. Thanks for tuning in and we will see you next time.
