3 NBA players who are likely to reach 20,000 career points in the 2021-22 season

In the history of the NBA, only 46 players have scored 20,000 points or more in the entirety of their careers. The total number of players that have played in the league is over 4700. To put things into perspective, less than 1% of the players that have played in the league have scored 20,000 points. And with each player capable of playing a maximum of 82 games per regular season, it will take an NBA player starting in the league almost 13 seasons of scoring 20 points per game to be able to score 20,000 points.

As difficult as that may sound, reality is often even more awe-inspiring than dreams. Seven players in the NBA have not only crossed this seemingly impossible feat but reached the pennacle of scoring by crossing the 30,000 point landmark. Players like Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are all members of this club. While LeBron James is the only active player to have crossed the 30,000 mark, Wilt Chamberlain's career total of 38,387 points is unbelievable.

Three NBA players who are likely to reach 20,000 career points in the 2021-22 regular season

On this list, we look at three players who are the best potential candidates to reach 20,000 career points in the 2021-22 regular season. Even though Dwight Howard has scored 19,113 points in his career and is still playing, he has only averaged 7.25 points per game in his last two seasons. He will need to score at least 10.82 points per game to reach this mark. For this reason, he will not be included in the list.

#3 Stephen Curry (18,434 points)

Stephen Curry is one of the best shooters in the NBA

Stephen Curry's is the face of the modern era of basketball. He has quite literally changed how the offensive unit is constructed inside a team. Where once three-pointers were a novelty, a source of entertainment, they have now become a necessity and the credit for doing so goes to Stephen Curry.

Curry has scored a total of 18,434 points in his 12 seasons in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors' maestro needs to score 1,566 more points in the 2021-22 season to achieve this feat.

A healthy Steph has averaged over 25 points per game in the last five seasons. In the 2020-21 regular season, he led the league in scoring with an average of 32 points per game. Considering his form and potential, it is not a stretch to assume that Curry will have scored 20,000 career points by the end of the upcoming season.

#2 LaMarcus Aldridge (19,951 points)

LaMarcus Alrdridge has played in the NBA for 15 seasons

One of the best power forwards in the NBA in his time with the Portland Trail Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge has lost much of his former glory. At his peak, Aldridge was a complete offensive player. He possessed all the skills needed for a center to dominate the restricted area to score or gather rebounds.

While facing post-up defenders, the former Spurs player was capable of overpowering the opponents with his sheer size and strength for easy buckets. Meanwhile, he also had a mean fadeaway which he utilized while scoring from mid-range.

His current career points stand at 19,951 points. Having averaged 13.5 points per game in the 2020-21 NBA regular season, it will take Aldridge only a few games to reach the 20,000 points scored landmark. He will thus become one of the less than 1% of players in the league's history to have scored 20,000 points in their career.

#1 Chris Paul (19,978 points)

Chris Paul is one of the best playmakers in the NBA

Chris Paul is not only one of the best playmakers in the history of the league, but is, without any arguments, one of the greatest small players in the history of the NBA. The genius and versatility of the one and only Point God remains unmatched. He is an offensive wizard.

One of the ways in which CP3 dominates the offense is his pick and roll. He pushes the opponents to commit to the defensive rotation while picking out open players or feeding the ball to his forwards, thus creating easy scoring sprees.

As a scorer, he is not a beast like Kyrie Irving or Stephen Curry but is definitely a capable scorer. In fact, he is the king of mid-range. In the 2020-21 season, Paul scored 197 of his 382 attempts from mid-range. That's a success rate of 51.6%. In addition. CP3 was also lethal from the non-restricted paint area with a conversion rate of 56.5% field goals made.

With regards to his potential of reaching 20,000 career points in the 2021-22 NBA regular season, it will be a walk in the park for the Point God. For one, he only needs to score 22 points to achieve the feat, and secondly, he is capable of easily averaging over 15 points per game in the upcoming season.