Who has the most 60-point games in NBA history?

Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving joins the historic 60 Point Club, but he is still far from being the NBA’s most prolific member. 

Even though Kyrie Irving hasn’t played much in the 2021-22 season, the Nets shooter has still managed to make NBA history in the team’s 150-point victory over the Orlando Magic.

Irving added an impressive stat to an illustrious career by scoring 60 points, marking a career-high and a franchise record for the Nets. Only 32 players in NBA history have accomplished this feat, with Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns doing it one day before Irving.

But what’s even more impressive are the players who scored over 60 multiple times, including Kobe Bryant, who ranks second on the list with six games scoring 60 or more points. The only player to do better than Bryant is NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain, who accomplished this feat a remarkable 32 times over the course of his career.

Who has the most 60-point games in NBA history?

Affectionately known as “Goliath” and “Wilt The Stilt”, the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain towered over the league when it came to scoring in the 1960s. To this day, Chamberlain remains the only player in NBA history to have a 100-point game, making history in a 169-147 conquering of the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. Sixty years later, the record stands, although Bryant came close in his oft-mentioned 81-point game in 2006.

Detractors will often note that Chamberlain played in a less competitive NBA than today, but there are never concrete comparisons when it comes to grading players in differing eras. Even if Wilt The Stilt would have faced more difficulty in today’s NBA, none of that detracts from his unparalleled shooting ability and the fact that he was still better than his peers for an entire decade. What’s also ignored is that following the trend of most major American contact sports, NBA defenses are much less aggressive than they were in previous eras. Even if the modern era has better shooters, it’s also more friendly to them overall.

While no one may ever come close to Chamberlain’s mind-boggling stat, it’s still noteworthy that two NBA stars made the club within two days of each other. No matter the era, 60 points in a game is a feat that deserves commendation.