LeBron James vs. Yao Ming: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Yao Ming and LeBron James 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.

LeBron James 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 LeBron James 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 22 NBA regular seasons played, LeBron James averages 8 points more than Yao Ming in his 8 seasons (27.0 points against 19.0), and he also scored a total of 32,937 points more (42,184 vs. 9,247).

Points Per Game			Seasons
LeBron James	27.0	+8.0	22
Yao Ming	19.0		8

Total Points			Seasons
LeBron James	42,184	+32,937	22
Yao Ming	9,247		8

Scoring Titles
LeBron James	1	+1
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
LeBron James	20.9	+7.4	2004	79
Yao Ming	13.5		2003	82

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	27.2	+9.7	2005	80
Yao Ming	17.5		2004	82

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	31.4	+13.1	2006	79
Yao Ming	18.3		2005	80

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	27.3	+5.0	2007	78
Yao Ming	22.3		2006	57

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	30.0	+5.0	2008	75
Yao Ming	25.0		2007	48

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	28.4	+6.4	2009	81
Yao Ming	22.0		2008	55

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	29.7	+10.0	2010	76
Yao Ming	19.7		2009	77

Season 8	Points per game		Year	Games
LeBron James	26.7	+16.5	2011	79
Yao Ming	10.2		2011	5

LeBron James' additional seasons:

* LeBron James played 14 seasons more than Yao Ming in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 9 to 22, from 2012 to 2025—he averaged 26.5 points in a total of 935 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 30.3 ppg and his lowest 24.4.