Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs. Yao Ming: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Yao Ming and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 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.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 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 Yao Ming.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has better scoring stats than Yao Ming 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 20 NBA regular seasons played, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averages 5.6 points more than Yao Ming in his 8 seasons (24.6 points against 19.0), and he also scored a total of 29,140 points more (38,387 vs. 9,247).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	24.6	+5.6	20
Yao Ming	19.0		8

Total Points			Seasons
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	38,387	+29,140	20
Yao Ming	9,247		8

Scoring Titles
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	2	+2
Yao Ming	0

Points by Thresholds

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

= NBA Scoring Leader

= NBA Champion

Regular Season

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	28.8	+15.3	1970	82
Yao Ming	13.5		2003	82

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	31.7	+14.2	1971	82
Yao Ming	17.5		2004	82

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	34.8	+16.5	1972	81
Yao Ming	18.3		2005	80

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	30.2	+7.9	1973	76
Yao Ming	22.3		2006	57

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	27.0	+2.0	1974	81
Yao Ming	25.0		2007	48

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	30.0	+8.0	1975	65
Yao Ming	22.0		2008	55

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	27.7	+8.0	1976	82
Yao Ming	19.7		2009	77

Season 8	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	26.2	+16.0	1977	82
Yao Ming	10.2		2011	5

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's additional seasons:

* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 12 seasons more than Yao Ming in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 9 to 20, from 1978 to 1989—he averaged 21.3 points in a total of 929 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 26.2 ppg and his lowest 10.1.

Playoffs

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	35.2	+35.2	1970	10
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2003	0

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	26.6	+11.6	1971	14
Yao Ming	15.0		2004	5

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	28.7	+7.3	1972	11
Yao Ming	21.4		2005	7

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	22.8	+22.8	1973	6
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2006	0

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	32.2	+7.1	1974	16
Yao Ming	25.1		2007	7

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	-	DNP	1975	0
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2008	0

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	-	DNP	1976	0
Yao Ming	17.1	+17.1	2009	9

Season 8	Points per game		Year	Games
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	34.6	+34.6	1977	11
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2011	0

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's additional Playoffs:

* During his 12 additional NBA seasons, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in 12 Playoffs and won 5 NBA Championships. In those postseasons he averaged 21.8 points in a total of 169 games. His highest playoff average during that period was 31.9 ppg and his lowest 11.1.