One day after LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to reach 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason, one of his contemporaries hit a major milestone of his own. On Wednesday, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks reached the 20,000-point plateau in his team’s 137–107 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the sixth-youngest player to reach the marker.
Antetokounmpo, who turned 30 in December, finished the game with 32 points in just 25 minutes, knocking down 13 of 20 shots from the field and going a perfect 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. It was the 47th time across 49 games this season that the two-time MVP made at least half of his shots from the field, and it was the first time all season that Antetokounmpo went perfect from the charity stripe.
Only James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan reached 20,000 points at a younger age than Antetokounmpo, who is the 52nd player to reach the club. Coincidentally, the 51st player to reach 20,000 is Antetokounmpo’s teammate, Damian Lillard, who achieved the milestone in December 2023.
Shortly after Antetokounmpo hit 20,000 in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game, the Bucks played a video tribute in the arena. However, apparently Antetokounmpo didn’t get to see most of it as he said head coach, Doc Rivers, kept distracting him during the timeout in which it was playing.
“They told me that the best players—the greats—never get bored. ... It doesn’t matter what I feel—if I feel good, bad, if I’m bored or I’m excited. If I’ve lost the game or won the game, it does not matter. I will do what’s necessary. I will do the job. I won’t negotiate with myself.”
It’s clear that Antetokounmpo has always had the work ethic and drive that have allowed him to reach this threshold after being drafted as an 18-year-old in 2013. He lasted until the 15th pick that year, but he’s far surpassed everyone else taken in the 2013 NBA Draft. CJ McCollum is the only other player from that draft class with even 12,000 career points. Now in his 12th season, Antetokounmpo is having one of his finest years as his 30.8 points per game and 60.5 percent field-goal shooting are both the second-highest marks of his career.
Last season, he became the first player to average at least 30 points on 60 percent shooting, and he’s on track to repeat that feat this year. But his game is about more than just scoring as he’s also averaging 12.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game.
Now that 20,000 is in the rearview mirror, Antetokounmpo has his sights set on the 30,000-point club.
Antetokounmpo currently is second in the NBA with 30.8 points per game, marking the eighth straight season he’s ranked in the top five in scoring average. However, he’s never led the league in scoring, and with Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.8 points) having a rather sizeable advantage with roughly 20 games remaining, that is likely to remain the case after this season.
The 20,000-point club should remain at 52 members for the rest of this season, but a trio of oft-injured stars could come knocking at the door next season. Anthony Davis, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving are all fewer than 1,600 points away from the threshold, but each has had difficulty staying on the court recently. Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo’s Bucks teammate, Brook Lopez, is next on the active scoring list at 17,225 points, though it would take him multiple seasons to join Antetokounmpo, and Lillard, with 20,000.
