You know we love creating lists of rare stat lines. From ultra-rare quadruple doubles to 5×5 to three teammates scoring at least 30 points in the same game, we pride ourselves on identifying these unique box scores and serving them up to you in an organized manner. In this week’s episode of rare NBA teammates stats is how many times two players from the same team scored at least 40 points in the same game.
How Many Times Have Teammates Scored 40+ Points in Same Game?
As of this post, this has only been accomplished a couple dozen times in the NBA’s regular season including four times in the postseason. Here are those 17 times a duo achieved 40+40. There are some well-known duos on this list including Elgin-West, Jordan-Pippen, Durant-Westbrook and Doncic-Kyrie), but for the most part, there’s a lot of names that are less recognizable.
- Gus Johnson 41, Walt Bellamy 40: It was on Nov. 14, 1964, when the Baltimore Bullets’ dynamic duo of Gus Johnson and Walt Bellamy dropped a whopping 41 and 40 points, respectively, becoming the first teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game. They led their Bullets franchise in defeating Los Angeles 127-115.
- Elgin Baylor 43, Jerry West 43: Fast forward to 1970, Lakers legends Elgin Baylor and Jerry West each netted 43 against the San Francisco Warriors on Feb. 11, 1970. Their collective total of 86 points powered the Lakers to a 125-114 victory that night.
- Pete Maravich 45, Nate Williams 41: The ‘70s kept the heat on when on April 10, 1977, the New Orleans Jazz’s Pete Maravich scored 45 points Nate Williams contributed with 41. With 86 points between them, the Jazz pulled out a high-scoring 139-125 victory.
- Paul Westphal 43, Walter Davis 40: Phoenix Suns teammates and NBA All-Stars Paul Westphal and Walter Davis joined the 40-point teammates club in 1978 against the Boston Celtics.
- George Gervin 50, Mike Michell 45: Four years later, the San Antonio Spurs’ George Gervin and Mike Mitchell combined for 95 points. This was the highest combined total of two players both reachingthe 40 point threshold up until this moment. That triple overtime game vs. the Milwaukee Bucks on March 6, 1982, certainly helped them reach 40+ points apiece.
| Date | Team | Total | Player 1 | Player 2 | Opp | W/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/14/1964 | Baltimore Bullets | 81 | Gus Johnson 41 | Walt Bellamy 40 | LAL | W |
| 02/11/1970 | Los Angeles Lakers | 86 | Elgin Baylor 43 | Jerry West 43 | SFW | W |
| 04/10/1977 | New Orleans Jazz | 86 | Pete Maravich 45 | Nate Williams 41 | DEN | W |
| 01/05/1978 | Phoenix Suns | 83 | Paul Westphal 43 | Walter Davis 40 | BOS | W |
| 03/06/1982 | San Antonio Spurs | 95 | George Gervin 50 | Mike Michell 45 | MIL | W |
| 12/13/1983 | Detroit Pistons | 88 | Isiah Thomas 47 | John Long 41 | DEN | W |
| 12/13/1983 | Denver Nuggets | 98 | Kiki Vandeweghe 51 | Alex English 47 | DET | L |
| 03/19/1984 | Utah Jazz | 85 | Adrian Dantley 43 | John Drew 42 | DET | W |
| 02/18/1996 | Chicago Bulls | 84 | Michael Jordan 44 | Scottie Pippen 40 | IND | W |
| 02/19/2012 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 91 | Kevin Durant 51 | Russell Westbrook 40 | DEN | W |
| 03/23/2012 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 85 | Russell Westbrook 45 | Kevin Durant 40 | MIN | W |
| 10/30/2015 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 91 | Russell Westbrook 48 | Kevin Durant 43 | ORL | W |
| 04/09/2017 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 81 | Andrew Wiggins 41 | Karl Anthony Towns 40 | LAL | L |
| 02/23/2019 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 88 | Paul George 45 | Russell Westbrook 43 | UTA | W |
| 12/14/2019 | Los Angeles Clippers | 88 | Paul George 46 | Kawhi Leonard 42 | MIN | W |
| 03/19/2021 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 83 | Anthony Edwards 42 | Karl Anthony Town 41 | PHX | W |
| 10/28/2022 | Cleveland Cavs | 82 | Donovan Mitchell 41 | Caris LeVert 41 | BOS | W |
| 03/23/2023 | Dallas Mavericks | 82 | Luka Doncic 42 | Kyrie Irving 40 | PHI | W |
| 01/15/2024 | Dallas Mavericks | 83 | Kyrie Irving 42 | Tim Hardaway Jr. 41 | NOP | W |
- Isiah Thomas 47, John Long 41: In a game that set the court on fire, the Detroit Pistons defeated the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 13, 1983, in the NBA’s highest scoring game ever. In this triple-overtime affair, NBA superstar Isiah Thomas (47) and teammate John Long (41) reached career highs in points (and, more importantly, got the 186-184 win).
- Kiki Vandeweghe 51, Alex English 47: In that same high-scoring 3OT game you read about above, two Nuggets’ Hall of Famer frontcourt players, Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English, went for 51 and 47 points, respectively. Their 98 points remain the highest total in this type of box score.
- Adrian Dantley 43, John Drew 42: On March 19, 1984, Utah’s Adrian Dantley and John Drew scored 43 and 42 points against the Detroit Pistons. The Jazz ended up pulling out a 143-125 win over the Detroit Pistons. Dantley and Drew dazzled with their scores in ’84.
- Michael Jordan 44, Scottie Pippen 40: On Feb. 18, 1996, the duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen controlled the show with their remarkable combined performance, scoring 44 and 40 points against the Indiana Pacers. This is the first duo that did it and won the NBA championship that same season. When it comes to NBA Finals betting, never bet against Michael Jordan.
Teammates with 40 points in the same game since 2010:
— Durant & Westbrook (3x)
— KAT & Wiggins
— Westbrook & PG
— Kawhi & PG
— KAT & Anthony Edwards tonight pic.twitter.com/3516f4IYDN— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 19, 2021
- Kevin Durant 51, Russell Westbrook 40: On Feb. 19, 2012, Kevin Durant set a career-high with 51 points while Russell Westbrook scored 40 as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Nuggets 124-118 in overtime. Durant and Westbrook’s performances for the Thunder in 2012 showed they were forces to be reckoned with, pulling off the teammate 40-balls in two consecutive months.
- Russell Westbrook 45, Kevin Durant 40: On March 23, 2012, the Thunder notched a 149-140 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Westbrook scored 45 points and Durant added 40 points in the game. With this score, they became the first teammates in NBA history to score at least 40 points twice in the same season.
- Anthony Edwards 42, Karl Anthony Town 41 On March 19, 2021 Karl Anthony Town and Anthony Edwards both reached 40 points in a game over the Los Angeles Lakers
- Luka Doncic 42, Kyrie Irving 40 Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic became the first Dallas Maverick teammates to put up 40 points in the same game as they led the Mavs to a 133-126 victory over the Philadelphia Sixers on March 23, 2023.
The above list is only for the regular season, and in those rare occasions when two players from the same team scored at least 40 points in the same game, their teams usually win. That’s not unusual as when two players catch fire to the tune of 40+ points, that’s a minimum of 80% of the points a team would score in the low-scoring 1990s and 2000s.
The only two losses came when the Pistons defeated the Nuggets in which both teams had two players with 40+ so one team had to lose. The other loss was the Towns-Wiggins Timberwolves who lost by one point to the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2017.
Teammates Reaching 40 Points in Same Playoff Game
In the NBA Playoffs, having two teammates reach 40 point plateau in the same game is even more rare. There’s just been five times that teammates have surpassed 40 points in a post season game. The first time happened when Elgin Baylor and Jerry West teamed up for 86 points against the Detroit Pistons back on March 29, 1962. Twenty five odd years later, Sleepy Floyd scored 42 points and Hakeem Olajuwon contributed 41 points (and 26 rebounds) for the Houston Rockets defeating the higher-seeded Dallas Mavericks on April 30, 1988.
Hakeem shows up again when he scored 40 with his new backcourt mate and former Houston Cougar Clyde Drexler. The Glide added to Hakeem’s 40 points with 41 points of his own; blowing out the Utah Jazz in their 1995 NBA Championship run. Five playoffs later, Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose each scored hit 40 points exactly on May 6th defeating Philadelphia in Game 1 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
On June 13, 2016, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers to a win against the Warriors with a score of 112-97. Scoring 41 points each, they made NBA Finals history as the first teammates to each score 40+ points in the same NBA Finals game.
The last time two teammates had 40 points each was when Anthony Davis scored 47 points and Jrue Holiday had 41 points for the New Orleans Pelicans. Their combined 88 points equaled the record for the most points scored by a duo in a single game. Though Jo Jo White’s 34 points didn’t surpass 40 points, he coupled with John Havlicek’s 54 points waaaay back in 1973 to total 88 points between teammates.
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