James Harden vs. Dirk Nowitzki: Career Scoring Comparison
We break down the scoring legacies of Dirk Nowitzki and James Harden 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.
Career comparison / Season by season / Scoring / Stats / Stats Rankings / Games against each other
Dirk Nowitzki and James Harden are among the all-time leaders in points in NBA history—combining for a total of 60,010 points—. James Harden is also one of the all-time leaders in points per game. Here we compare their scoring stats.
By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that James Harden has a better scoring average in the regular season and scored more points in the Playoffs while in the inverse situation Dirk Nowitzki scored more points in during the season and has a better average in the postseason. 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.
On this page we compare: |
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Who has better scoring stats? Career Numbers |
Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?
Points in the Regular Season
In his 17 NBA regular seasons played, James Harden averages 3.4 points more than Dirk Nowitzki in his 21 seasons (24.1 points against 20.7). On the other hand Dirk Nowitzki scored a total of 3,110 points more than James Harden (31,560 vs. 28,450).
Points Per Game | Seasons | ||
| James Harden | 24.1 | +3.4 | 17 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 20.7 | 21 | |
Total Points | Seasons | ||
| James Harden | 28,450 | 17 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 31,560 | +3,110 | 21 |
Scoring Titles | ||
| James Harden | 3 |  +3 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 0 | |
Points in the Playoffs
In the NBA postseason Dirk Nowitzki has a better career point average than James Harden (+2.8 points per game) while James Harden scored more points (+232).
Points Per Game | Playoffs | ||
| James Harden | 22.5 | 16 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 25.3 | +2.8 | 15 |
Total Points | Playoffs | ||
| James Harden | 3,895 | +232 | 16 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 3,663 | 15 | |
Points by Thresholds
Regular Season
60+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 4 | +4 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 0 | |||
20+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 759 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 861 | +102 | ||
10+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 1,082 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1,373 | +291 | ||
1+ Point Games (games with points) | ||||
| James Harden | 1,179 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1,509 | +330 | ||
0 Point Games (games without points) | ||||
| James Harden | 1 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 13 | +12 | ||
Playoffs
50+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 0 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1 | +1 | ||
20+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 101 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 109 | +8 | ||
10+ Point Games | ||||
| James Harden | 155 | +13 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 142 | |||
1+ Point Games (games with points) | ||||
| James Harden | 170 | +25 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 145 | |||
0 Point Games (games without points) | ||||
| James Harden | 3 | +3 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 0 | |||
Career Shooting Stats Comparison
Regular Season
Stats Per Game
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| James Harden | 24.1 | 7.1 | 16.2 | 43.9 | 2.8 | 7.6 | 36.3 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 86.2 | 17 | 1,180 |
| difference: | +3.4 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +3.1 | +1.5 | +4.2 | +1.7 | +2.3 | +2.8 | +1.7 | +4 | +342 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 20.7 | 7.3 | 15.6 | 47.1 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 38.0 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 87.9 | 21 | 1,522 |
Total Stats
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| James Harden | 28,450 | 8,393 | 19,114 | 43.9 | 3,277 | 9,025 | 36.3 | 8,387 | 9,728 | 86.2 | 17 | 1,180 |
| difference: | +3,110 | +2,776 | +4,620 | +3.1 | +1,295 | +3,815 | +1.7 | +1,147 | +1,489 | +1.7 | +4 | +342 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 31,560 | 11,169 | 23,734 | 47.1 | 1,982 | 5,210 | 38.0 | 7,240 | 8,239 | 87.9 | 21 | 1,522 |
Playoffs
Stats Per Game
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| James Harden | 22.5 | 6.8 | 16.0 | 42.5 | 2.5 | 7.4 | 34.0 | 6.4 | 7.4 | 86.9 | 16 | 173 |
| difference: | +2.8 | +1.6 | +2.2 | +3.7 | +1.5 | +4.6 | +2.5 | +1.0 | +0.9 | +2.3 | +1 | +28 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 25.3 | 8.4 | 18.2 | 46.2 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 36.5 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 89.2 | 15 | 145 |
Total Stats
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| James Harden | 3,895 | 1,173 | 2,760 | 42.5 | 434 | 1,275 | 34.0 | 1,115 | 1,283 | 86.9 | 16 | 173 |
| difference: | +232 | +47 | +118 | +3.7 | +285 | +867 | +2.5 | +41 | +79 | +2.3 | +1 | +28 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 3,663 | 1,220 | 2,642 | 46.2 | 149 | 408 | 36.5 | 1,074 | 1,204 | 89.2 | 15 | 145 |
Year by Year Points Average Comparison
= NBA Scoring Leader
= NBA ChampionRegular Season
Dirk Nowitzki's additional seasons: | ||||
- Dirk Nowitzki played 2 seasons more than James Harden in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 20 to 21, from 2018 to 2019—he averaged 10.2 points in a total of 128 regular season games. |
Playoffs
Rookie Season | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| James Harden | 7.7 | +7.7 | 2010 | 6 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 1999 | 0 |
Season 2 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| James Harden | 13.0 | +13.0 | 2011 | 17 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2000 | 0 |
Season 15 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| James Harden | 18.6 | +18.6 | 2022 | 12 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2013 | 0 |
Season 19 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| James Harden | - | DNP * | 2026 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2017 | 0 |
| * season in progress | ||||
Dirk Nowitzki's additional Playoffs: | ||||
- During his 2 additional NBA seasons, Dirk Nowitzki didn't play in the postseason. |