Michael Jordan vs. Arvydas Sabonis: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Arvydas Sabonis and Michael Jordan 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.

Michael Jordan 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 Michael Jordan 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 15 NBA regular seasons played, Michael Jordan averages 18.1 points more than Arvydas Sabonis in his 7 seasons (30.1 points against 12.0), and he also scored a total of 26,663 points more (32,292 vs. 5,629).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Michael Jordan	30.1	+18.1	15
Arvydas Sabonis	12.0		7

Total Points			Seasons
Michael Jordan	32,292	+26,663	15
Arvydas Sabonis	5,629		7

Scoring Titles
Michael Jordan	10	+10
Arvydas Sabonis	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
Michael Jordan	28.2	+13.7	1985	82
Arvydas Sabonis	14.5		1996	73

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	22.7	+9.3	1986	18
Arvydas Sabonis	13.4		1997	69

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	37.1	+21.1	1987	82
Arvydas Sabonis	16.0		1998	73

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	35.0	+22.9	1988	82
Arvydas Sabonis	12.1		1999	50

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	32.5	+20.7	1989	81
Arvydas Sabonis	11.8		2000	66

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	33.6	+23.5	1990	82
Arvydas Sabonis	10.1		2001	61

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	31.5	+25.4	1991	82
Arvydas Sabonis	6.1		2003	78

Michael Jordan's additional seasons:

* Michael Jordan played 8 seasons more than Arvydas Sabonis in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 8 to 15, from 1992 to 2003—he averaged 27.9 points in a total of 563 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 32.6 ppg and his lowest 20. In those 8 extra years over Arvydas Sabonis, Michael Jordan won 5 scoring titles.

Playoffs

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	29.3	+5.7	1985	4
Arvydas Sabonis	23.6		1996	5

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	43.7	+32.4	1986	3
Arvydas Sabonis	11.3		1997	4

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	35.7	+23.4	1987	3
Arvydas Sabonis	12.3		1998	4

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	36.3	+26.3	1988	10
Arvydas Sabonis	10.0		1999	13

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	34.8	+23.5	1989	17
Arvydas Sabonis	11.3		2000	16

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	36.7	+25.4	1990	16
Arvydas Sabonis	11.3		2001	3

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Michael Jordan	31.1	+21.1	1991	17
Arvydas Sabonis	10.0		2003	6

Michael Jordan's additional Playoffs:

* During his 8 additional NBA seasons, Michael Jordan played in 6 Playoffs and won 5 NBA Championships. In those postseasons he averaged 32.7 points in a total of 109 games. His highest playoff average during that period was 35.1 ppg and his lowest 30.7.