6 NBA players most likely to score 80 points next after Bam Adebayo shockingly passes Kobe Bryant’s 81

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points on March 2, 1962. That is an NBA record and considered one of the most unbreakable feats in all of sports. Kobe Bryant was long in second place on the single-game scoring list, as he scored 81 points on Feb. 22, 2006. Nobody thought that figure would be passed either. Bam Adebayo did the unthinkable by dropping 83 points on March 10, 2026.

The Miami Heat center is a great player and among the best players in the league. He is far from the first player that fans would have guessed could have had such an insane scoring game, though. In fact, Adebayo is arguably more known for his defensive prowess, and his career high before scoring 83 points was just 41 points. 

The point is, if Adebayo can score 83 points, then there are certainly other players who can surpass the 80-point threshold in the modern NBA. Maybe Chamberlain’s 100-point record isn’t even quite as safe as previously thought. So, which NBA players are most likely to score 80-plus points in a single game next?

6. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry’s career high is 62 points. He is an all-time great and arguably the best point guard ever, but in reality, he is probably out of his prime. Because of that, since he hasn’t already scored even 70 points in a game, he likely won’t at some point in his future. Still, the mathematics behind his game necessitates inclusion on this list.

Curry is the best 3-point shooter in NBA history. Fans have seen him get hot plenty of times before, and his 4,233 career 3-point makes are 891 more than second place. Curry doesn’t just make the wide-open ones, either. He gets up and makes shots from well beyond the arc, and he can nail long bombs off movement and off-balance to the point where defenders can’t really guard him; they just have to pray that he misses.

Even at age 37, fans can expect plenty more jaw-dropping shooting displays from Curry, and perhaps he can take that to the next level after seeing Adebayo’s performance. It helps Curry’s case that he is more than just an outside shooter. He can get anywhere on the court with one of the best handles in NBA history, and he is well-regarded for making circus shots, which would certainly help his 80-point pursuit. Curry has mentioned playing in the flow state before, and if he focused merely on scoring in a night in which he was unconscious, he just might get 80.

While they didn’t make this list, Joel Embiid, Damian Lillard, and Donovan Mitchell have all surpassed the 70-point threshold before, so they shouldn’t be counted out from one day getting 80 points. Anthony Edwards is already among the best scorers in the league, too, and Nikola Jokic deserves a shout out as well.

While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made more of a claim as the best player in the NBA than ever before when he hit the game-winning shot over the Denver Nuggets on March 9, Jokic has still been viewed as the consensus best player in basketball for around a half-decade. Part of what makes him great is that he is the best passing big man ever, and his unselfish nature would likely prevent him from ever scoring 80 points. Jokic’s touch is unmatched, though.

He could bully his way inside to 80-points while also knocking down deep shots as one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooting bigs, all while hitting one-footed catapult Somber Shuffles that leave defenders with their hands in their face out of frustration. Again, Jokic’s passing prowess means an 80-point performance is unlikely, but he just might have the skill set to get it if he ever desired, and a fellow center in Adebayo scoring 83 points only creates more realism for this possibility.

5. Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets

A former teammate of Curry’s, Kevin Durant, is also one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. In fact, many fans have pinned him as the greatest pure scorer ever, with NBA G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan as the only one giving him a run for his money. Durant is listed at 6-foot-9, but in reality, he might be closer to 7-feet tall.

Despite this, there isn’t a shot Durant can’t make, which makes him close to truly unguardable. He can score down low, from the mid-range, with his back to the basket, or from beyond the 3-point arc, and he hasn’t really regressed since tearing his Achilles. Surprisingly, Durant has never even scored 60 points in a game.

His career-high in scoring is just 55 points, as he has always focused on efficiency and never embraced just jacking up shots. That doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the most likely players to score 80 points in a game, though. If Durant ever underwent a mindset change and just wanted to score as many points as he possibly could, he has the all-around scoring nature to go crazy, and there aren’t many players that can guard him.

In the event in which Durant surpassed his career high and defenses started trying to find a way to slow him down, he’d be too fast for bigs to guard him, and he could get his shot up over most guards and wings. An 80-point game from Durant would be surprising because he hasn’t gotten that close to that mark before, but it would be far less surprising than when Adebayo did it.

4. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns

Devin Booker is responsible for multiple all-time high-scoring games during his career. Most memorably, the Phoenix Suns’ guard scored 70 points back in 2017. His team wasn’t very good back then, which afforded the Kentucky product the ultimate green light. Sixty-plus, 70-plus, and now, 80-plus point scoring games just weren’t commonplace back then like they are starting to become more so now, though, which warranted Booker copying Chamberlain and displaying his high-scoring output in pencil on a piece of paper in the locker room after the game.

Booker is still an elite scorer all these years later. He is averaging 24.9 points per game this year due to an elite mid-range shot and the ability to get downhill and score in the painted area. In a couple of the previous years, it seemed unlikely that Booker could surpass his own 70-point game, let alone get 80 points in one night. That was because he shared a court with the aforementioned Durant, as well as Bradley Beal, though.

With those two now gone, Booker has clear command of being the top option in Phoenix. The rest of his team is filled with gritty role players who don’t mind doing the dirty work, so it isn’t hard to envision a game in which Booker fired up an insane amount of shots while his teammates did their best to create extra possessions and get him open looks.

3. Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers

Adebayo fell short of Chamberlain’s single-game scoring record, but he surpassed a number of iconic performances when he dropped 83 points on the Washington Wizards. Of course, there was the aforementioned 81-point performance by Bryant, but Chamberlain also had another iconic scoring game in which he scored 78 points. Adebayo also knocked Luka Doncic’s 73-point performance into a tie for fifth place all-time.

Doncic has proven he can get close to scoring 80 points. He has a methodical style of play that is hard to guard. Doncic gets up and makes shots from beyond the 3-point arc, and his step-back is one of the best moves in basketball. He also has some of the best touch in the league. Doncic is currently leading the NBA with 32.5 points per game.

Furthermore, LeBron James is close to retirement, and once one of the greatest players in NBA history hangs ’em up, there will be even more shots to be had for Doncic. Then again, perhaps the Slovenian star will score 80 before his partner in crime calls it quits. After all, James is an incredible playmaker who demands the attention of defenses, which should only make life easier on Doncic.

2. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

There is no denying that Victor Wembanyama is the future of the NBA. The French star playing for the San Antonio Spurs is 7-foot-4. On the one hand, that has led to him quickly becoming the best defender in the NBA, and he may just take home the Defensive Player of the Year award on a perennial basis.

Wembanyama is a unicorn on offense, too, though. Despite his size, Wembanyama has a guard-like skillset. He can hit step-back jumpers, put the ball on the ground and create off the bounce, and hit fadeaways and turnarounds. Of course, Wembanyama’s size allows him to score inside with ease, too, as he barely has to try to dunk on top of anybody.

There is going to be a night in which Wembanyama has a severe mismatch, and the opposing team simply can’t stop him. In that event, Wembanyama could potentially score 80 points, which would signal that the future is now.

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

The defending MVP is well on his way to winning a second straight award for being the best player in the NBA after a signature performance in which he scored 35 points en route to hitting the game-winner against the Nuggets. Gilgeous-Alexander is in the midst of his fourth-straight season averaging more than 30 points per game.

He led the league with 32.7 points per game last year, and his 31.7 points per game are the second-most this year. If the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t have the deepest rotation in the league, one would have to imagine that figure would be much higher. The Thunder have 13 or 14 players who just might be in every single team’s 10-man rotation, which means there are a lot of mouths to feed. If Gilgeous-Alexander played on a bad team, it isn’t hard to imagine him averaging close to 40 points per game, and it is somehow almost even less hard to imagine him scoring 80 in a single game.

The MVP can truly score however he wants. He has a reliable 3-point shot and one of the best middies in the league. He also scores at the rim better than perhaps any other guard, and he gets to the free throw line often. If anybody is going to score 80 points again, or potentially even try to surpass Adebayo’s historic performance, it would almost certainly be Gilgeous-Alexander.

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