Wilt Chamberlain’s 10 Most Unbreakable Records
Insane Stats that Will Likely Never Be Matched
In his 14-year NBA career, Wilt Chamberlain routinely put up video-game-like numbers. Even though the era in which he played and the level of his competition will always be used to contextualize his feats, his jaw-dropping stats are still an official part of NBA lore and are likely never to be seen again.
Here are 10 Wilt Chamberlain records that will probably never be broken — all found via StatMuse.
10. Most Points in a Game by a Rookie — 58
The Stilt burst onto the NBA scene in 1959–60 and not only set the rookie single-game record with 58 points, but matched it less than a month later. Since then, only six rookies have cracked 50 in a game with Brandon Jennings being the last back in 2009. It’s easy to imagine a future legend take the league by storm and erupt for a huge game in his first season, but the fact that so few freshmen have even come close to Wilt’s mark makes it seem very unlikely.
9. Highest Assists per Game in a Season by a Center — 8.6 APG
The story goes that Wilt Chamberlain wanted to fight the narrative that he was a selfish player so he decided that he wanted to lead the league in assists, so he did. He became the first (and still only) center to lead the league in total assists with 702 in 1967–68 for an average of 8.6, which remains the single-season record for the position. For decades, no other big man has come remotely close until Denver’s Serbian dime-dropper Nikola Jokic posted averages of 6.1 and 7.3 in 2017–18 and 2018–19, respectively. Though Jokic is still young and may not have even hit his prime yet, he’d have to take a historic season and add a full 1.3 APG to match Wilt. If the Joker is unable to crack it, the record may be safe forever.
8. Most Shot Attempts in a Game without a Miss — 18
Over a four-game stretch in February of 1967, Wilt Chamberlain simply could not miss — setting an NBA record by making 35 consecutive shots in that span, including an 18–18 performance on February 24th. Sure, the big man got most of his buckets a few feet away from the basket so the shots weren’t exactly the most difficult, but there have been countless dominant big men since — Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq — and none of them even came close to this level of efficiency in a single game. Gary Payton had a good night and Thomas Bryant put his name in the record books by each going 14–14, but they’re the only two players to even come close in the last four decades. While anyone can get hot on any given night, with the continuing rise of the less efficient three-pointer (even among big men) it’s becoming less and less likely that someone gets 18–18 hot.
7. Most Consecutive Games without Fouling Out — 1,045
Wilt Chamberlain somehow went his entire 1,045 game career without getting six personal fouls in a single game. For someone who played as many minutes in as many games as he did, it seems impossible that he never got a little sloppy on defense or encountered a game scenario that required him to hack away, yet here we are.
6. Most Rebounds in a Regular Season Game (55), Playoff Game (41) and Season (2,149)
If there’s a possible rebounding record, Wilt probably has it (with Bill Russell a close second). They cleaned the glass in the 60s at a level that has and never will be seen again. No player has come within 20 of Chamberlain’s regular season single-game record of 55 since Charles Oakley grabbed 35 boards in 1988. No player has had more than 26 rebounds since 1977, so Wilt’s playoff single-game record of 41 seems pretty safe as well. But safest of all rebounding records may be his 2,149 in the 1960–61 season. Only one player has even reached 1,500 rebounds in a season since Wilt retired — Dennis Rodman, who had 1,530 in 1991–92.
5. Highest Scoring Average in a Season — 50.4 PPG
A 50-point game is rightly celebrated today. It’s a monumental scoring achievement that sets social media ablaze. Imagine a player doing that for an entire season. Not even Wilt himself came within 6 PPG of his record 50.4 PPG in 1961–62 and the league’s most elite scorers of the past half century have come no closer than Michael Jordan’s 37.1 PPG in 1986–87.
4. Most Career 50-Point Games (118), 60-Point Games (32), 70-Point Games (6)
No player has had more big scoring games than Wilt and it’s not even close. He has almost four times as many 50-point games as the next-closest player (Michael Jordan), more than five times as many 60-point games as the next-closest (Kobe Bryant) and more 70-point games than every other player in NBA history combined.
3. Most Points in a Season — 4,029
Chamberlain’s single-season scoring record is so out of reach that only one player — Michael Jordan in 1986–87 — has even come within 1,000 points of it. Even as James Harden went on his historic run in 2018–19 with a streak of 32 consecutive 30-point games, he finished the season 1,211 points short of Wilt’s 1961–62 campaign (the year he set the record with 65 straight 30-point games). Even when a player sustains greatness like Harden did, it only serves to highlight the magnitude of the statistical gap between Wilt and everyone else.
2. Most Points in an NBA Game — 100
It’s the holy grail of NBA records, a hallowed mark looked upon in reverence. There’s no footage of the game, so it’s taken on a mythological quality to it — something that doesn’t seem real. Only Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance has even come close and it doesn’t seem physically possible that a player could fit in 19 more points than he did in that game. In the last few years we’ve seen both Klay Thompson and James Harden sit out the fourth quarter in blowout games where they were already up to 60 points, so even if a player is red hot he may not even get a shot at the record unless the game is still competitive. It’s debatable that Kobe’s 81 may never be reached again, so Wilt’s 100 remains the stuff of legend — something no mere mortal could actually attain.
1. Most Minutes per Game in a Season — 48.5
In what seems like a logical impossibility, Wilt Chamberlain averaged more minutes per game in a season than there are minutes in a regulation NBA game. Well, it’s possible when you literally never leave the floor and a few of the games go into overtime. In his legendary 1961–62 season, Wilt Chamberlain played an NBA record 47 consecutive complete games, meaning he didn’t go to the bench even for one second. While fans and media have made light of players sitting out for “load management,” players and teams know the importance of rest — not just to be ready for the playoffs or for the next season, but to be able to walk comfortably in retirement. A player never leaving the court in a game today is unheard of. A player never leaving the court for an entire season is insanity. Though it’s highly, highly unlikely any of Wilt’s incredible scoring or rebounding records will ever be matched, this record will be impossible to break.
