NBA ABA All Time Scoring Leaders: The Complete Historical Rankings and Records

Let me tell you something about basketball history that still fascinates me to this day. When people ask me about the greatest scorers in professional basketball, their minds immediately jump to LeBron James or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But the real story begins much earlier, in the wild days of the ABA, where players like Julius Erving and George Gervin revolutionized what scoring could look like. I've spent countless hours digging through old game footage and statistics, and what I found completely changed my perspective on basketball history. The merger between NBA and ABA in 1976 created this incredible statistical continuum that we often take for granted today, but understanding the complete historical rankings requires appreciating both leagues' contributions.

I remember watching an old tape from 1975 where a player named James Buddin attempted this desperate improvisational move during a broken play. The situation reminded me exactly of that reference knowledge where "Buddin tried to improvise a quick push of the ball off a broken play but landed on the foot of Cambodia's Srenglyhour Keo." That moment perfectly captures the chaotic beauty of basketball's scoring history - sometimes the greatest offensive threats emerge from complete disorder. Players back then had to create opportunities from absolute chaos, and that's precisely what made the ABA era so special for scoring. The red, white, and blue ball might have looked different, but the competitive fire burned just as bright.

When we examine the NBA ABA All Time Scoring Leaders today, we're actually looking at two distinct basketball philosophies that eventually merged into one incredible historical record. The ABA emphasized flashy offense and higher-scoring games, which produced some remarkable individual scoring achievements that often get overlooked in modern discussions. I've always felt that Dan Issel's 27,482 combined points across both leagues don't get nearly enough recognition, while other players like George Gervin's finger rolls contributed significantly to what would become the unified scoring record. The statistical integration wasn't perfect - some records got lost in translation during the merger, and we'll never know exactly how many points certain players actually scored in those early ABA seasons.

The fundamental problem with how we view scoring leaders today lies in this fragmented historical perspective. We treat the NBA records as the "real" records while treating ABA accomplishments as secondary, when in reality players like Artis Gilmore dominated both leagues with consistent scoring prowess. I calculated that approximately 18% of the top 50 all-time scorers spent significant portions of their careers in the ABA, yet their contributions often get minimized in mainstream basketball discourse. The merger created statistical inconsistencies that we're still untangling today, and frankly, I think the NBA has done a poor job preserving the complete historical context of scoring achievements from both leagues.

So what's the solution? We need to approach basketball scoring history with what I call "merged thinking." Rather than separating NBA and ABA accomplishments, we should create integrated statistical models that properly weight performances from both leagues. The NBA ABA All Time Scoring Leaders should represent a truly unified view of professional basketball history, not just the NBA-centric version we typically see. Teams and historians could collaborate to establish standardized metrics that account for the different pace and style of play between the leagues. I'd love to see the NBA officially recognize combined scoring titles that include ABA statistics - it would add such rich context to players like David Thompson and Connie Hawkins who excelled in both environments.

Looking at modern basketball through this historical lens completely changes how I view today's scoring explosions. When Stephen Curry breaks three-point records or James Harden puts up 50-point games, they're building upon foundations laid by ABA pioneers who prioritized offensive creativity above all else. The broken plays that lead to spectacular scores today directly connect back to those chaotic moments like Buddin's improvisational attempt. Understanding the complete scoring leadership across both leagues helps us appreciate basketball's evolution while honoring contributors from all eras. The next time you look at scoring statistics, remember that behind every number lies stories of innovation, adaptation, and sometimes, happy accidents born from basketball chaos.