Listing the 5 players in history who led the NBA in scoring and won the championship in the same season

No. 3: Joe Fulks, 1946-47 (BAA)

Power forward Joe Fulks of the Philadelphia Warriors

In the first season of the league (then known as the Basketball Association of America), the Philadelphia Warriors became the first champions. Hall of Fame power forward Joe Fulks led the league in scoring and also led his team to collective glory.

Fulks averaged 23.2 points per game in 1946-47 BAA after making a shocking 30.5% of his field goals.

Back then (and until the 1968-69 season) the scoring champion was decided in terms of totals and not averages. Fulks led the league in both categories that year, and then averaged 22.2 points per game in the postseason (league-high).

In eight seasons, Fulks averaged 16.4 ppg and made 30% of his field goals (fifth-worst in league history among players with 2,000 missed field goals).

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No. 2 George Mikan, twice

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and George Mikan (left to right)

The league's first superstar was George Mikan, and he definitely earned that status. He led the Minneapolis Lakers to five BAA/NBA titles between 1949 and 1954.

In the first two championships of that Lakers dynasty, Mikan led the league in scoring during the regular season, with 1,698 and 1,865 points, respectively. Those years, he averaged 28.3 and 27.4 points per game.

Those seasons were also his first two in the league. He led the league in scoring again in 1950-51, but the Lakers fell in the Western Division finals against the Rochester Royals.

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No. 1: Michael Jordan, six times

Michael Jordan starred with the Chicago Bulls.

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls broke through in the 1991 NBA Finals to win their first title. Until then, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in 1971) was the most recent scoring champion to win the main title at the end of the season.

Many criticized Jordan and argued that the scoring champion would not be able to guide a team to the NBA title when it mattered the most. However, Jordan repeated the feat during all of his six titles with the Chicago Bulls.

From 1991 to 1993, the Bulls were champions, and Jordan led in scoring for all three years. (He had a combined average of 31.4 points in the regular season and 36 in the finals).

From 1996 to 1998, Jordan and the Bulls did it again. To win the eighth, ninth and 10th scoring titles of his career (record), Jordan averaged a combined 29.6 points ppg, and averaged 31 in the three NBA Finals.