The NBA All-Star Game is coming up. Needless to say, the game will again be filled with the NBA’s best and brightest superstars.
The game has featured some amazing highlights and high-level of play as the 24 best NBA players suit up in the mid-season match-up. In terms of what the league considers their superstars, it’s all about the players that put the ball in the basket. That’s to say that you’ll get a few defensive-minded players to make the team every so often, but being an NBA all-star usually means you’re one of the top player (or top three players if you’re the Golden State Warriors) shouldering the offensive load for your team.
Most Points Scored in an NBA All-Star Game (Player)
The fact that the game is packed with combustible offensive players and no one wants to risk injury, the game is a high-scoring affair you’d see on the playgrounds. In the history of the game, which players have shone the brightest? In other words, what is the most points scored by one player in the NBA All-Star game. We got your list right here:
| Rank | Year | Player | Points | Team | W/L | Win MVP? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017 | Anthony Davis | 52 | New Orleans Pelicans | W | MVP |
| 2 | 1962 | Wilt Chamberlain | 42 | Philadelphia Warriors | L | |
| 3 | 2016 | Paul George | 41 | Indiana Pacers | L | |
| 3 | 2015 | Russell Westbrook | 41 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | MVP |
| 3 | 2017 | Russell Westbrook | 41 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | |
| 6 | 1988 | Michael Jordan | 40 | Chicago Bulls | W | MVP |
| 7 | 1967 | Rick Barry | 38 | San Francisco Warriors | W | MVP |
| 7 | 2014 | Kevin Durant | 38 | Oklahoma City Thunder | L | |
| 7 | 2014 | Blake Griffin | 38 | Los Angeles Clippers | L | |
| 7 | 2019 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 38 | Milwaukee Bucks | L | |
| 11 | 2011 | Kobe Bryant | 37 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | MVP |
| 11 | 2003 | Kevin Garnett | 37 | Minnesota Timberwolves | W | MVP |
| 13 | 2012 | Kevin Durant | 36 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | MVP |
| 13 | 2012 | LeBron James | 36 | Miami Heat | L | |
| 13 | 2006 | Tracy McGrady | 36 | Houston Rockets | L | |
| 16 | 2003 | Allen Iverson | 35 | Philadelphia 76ers | L | |
| 17 | 1987 | Tom Chambers | 34 | Seattle Supersonics | W | MVP |
| 17 | 2011 | Kevin Durant | 34 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | |
| 17 | 1984 | Julius Erving | 34 | Philadelphia 76ers | W | |
| 17 | 1980 | George Gervin | 34 | San Antonio Spurs | W | MVP |
| 21 | 1962 | Elgin Baylor | 32 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | |
| 22 | 2007 | Kobe Bryant | 31 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | MVP |
| 22 | 2002 | Kobe Bryant | 31 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | MVP |
| 22 | 2014 | Kyrie Irving | 31 | Cleveland Cavaliers | W | MVP |
| 22 | 2016 | Russell Westbrook | 31 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | MVP |
| 22 | 2019 | Kevin Durant | 31 | Golden State Warriors | W | MVP |
| 27 | 2017 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 30 | Milwaukee Bucks | L | |
| 27 | 2014 | Carmelo Anthony | 30 | New York Knicks | W | |
| 27 | 2013 | Kevin Durant | 30 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | |
| 27 | 1977 | Julius Erving | 30 | Philadelphia 76ers | L | MVP |
| 27 | 1975 | Walt Frazier | 30 | New York Knicks | W | MVP |
| 27 | 2015 | LeBron James | 30 | Cleveland Cavaliers | L | |
| 27 | 1993 | Michael Jordan | 30 | Chicago Bulls | L | |
| 27 | 1977 | Bob McAdoo | 30 | Buffalo Braves | L | |
| 27 | 1986 | Isiah Thomas | 30 | Detroit Pistons | W | MVP |
The above list features 33 of the highest scoring games by an NBA player in the history of the all-star game. In order to qualify for the list above, the player must have scored 30 or more points.
It’s really a shame that the NBA record for the most points in the game has Anthony Davis’ name at the top with 52 points. Nothing against Davis whatsoever, he’s obviously a NBA superstar, it was more how the game was played and how easily he scored those points. We’ve already established that the NBA All-Star Game doesn’t focus much on defense, but anyone watching that game saw that the way Davis broke Wilt Chamberlain’s 55-year old record wasn’t because he was having an exceptional game it was because there was absolutely no defense being played.
That 2017 All Star Game was clearly an issue. It’s no fun to watch a game like that. After that all-star weekend, the league went into backrooms of their offices to figure out a fun way to make the game as competitive as it can be. That hatched a radical change. Starting in 2018, there would be an All-Star draft that would allow the top-two vote-getters to select their roster no matter the conference.
Highest Scorer on Winning Team = MVP
Looking to see how highest-scorer and how that correlated with winning MVP, we found that if a player was the team’s high scorer and their team won, they had a very high chance of being named the game’s MVP. No surprise there. One of the times that didn’t happen was when Julius Erving scored 34 points for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, but wasn’t voted MVP — that honor went to Isiah Thomas who finished with 21 points and 15 assists. Many of those assists went to setting up Doctor J.
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