Allen Iverson vs. Arvydas Sabonis: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Arvydas Sabonis and Allen Iverson to determine who has the better numbers. Here you can compare their career totals, points per game, games of 40+ points, 50+, etc. and their year-by-year scoring averages side by side, both in the Regular Season and Playoffs.

Allen Iverson is among the NBA's all-time leaders in points and also has one of the highest career averages in league history, and here we compare his scoring stats with those recorded by Arvydas Sabonis.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Allen Iverson has better scoring stats than Arvydas Sabonis in averages and totals, both in the regular season and Playoffs. However, we won't stop there and we'll go into detail to analyze what these statistics are made up of, from how many games they had in each threshold (30+ points, 40+, 50+, etc.) to their season-by-season scoring averages.

Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?

Points in the Regular Season

In his 14 NBA regular seasons played, Allen Iverson averages 14.7 points more than Arvydas Sabonis in his 7 seasons (26.7 points against 12.0), and he also scored a total of 18,739 points more (24,368 vs. 5,629).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Allen Iverson	26.7	+14.7	14
Arvydas Sabonis	12.0		7

Total Points			Seasons
Allen Iverson	24,368	+18,739	14
Arvydas Sabonis	5,629		7

Scoring Titles
Allen Iverson	4	+4
Arvydas Sabonis	0

Points by Thresholds

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

= NBA Scoring Leader

Regular Season

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	23.5	+9.0	1997	76
Arvydas Sabonis	14.5		1996	73

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	22.0	+8.6	1998	80
Arvydas Sabonis	13.4		1997	69

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	26.8	+10.8	1999	48
Arvydas Sabonis	16.0		1998	73

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	28.4	+16.3	2000	70
Arvydas Sabonis	12.1		1999	50

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	31.1	+19.3	2001	71
Arvydas Sabonis	11.8		2000	66

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	31.4	+21.3	2002	60
Arvydas Sabonis	10.1		2001	61

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Allen Iverson	27.6	+21.5	2003	82
Arvydas Sabonis	6.1		2003	78

Allen Iverson's additional seasons:

* Allen Iverson played 10 seasons more than Arvydas Sabonis in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 8 to 17, from 2004 to 2010—he averaged 25.4 points in a total of 614 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 33 ppg and his lowest 13.8. In those 10 extra years over Arvydas Sabonis, Allen Iverson won 1 scoring title.