Superstar Milestones in Sight for 2014-15 NBA Season
Present and past will collide violently in the NBA this year as a handful of aging superstars claw their way toward records that have stood for decades.
Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant are all zeroing in on the greats who've come before. LeBron James, still just 29 years old, is also moving into historic statistical territory.
Because of course he is.
The superstars on this list have nothing left to prove to their contemporaries. Between them, they've got 14 championship rings, nine MVP awards and well over 100,000 points. Their only competition comes from the NBA's all-timers—the luminous greats who set marks we thought were beyond the reach of anyone who'd come later.
Some of those milestones are in reach now, and we'll see many of them fall in the 2014-15 season.
Dirk Nowitzki's Scoring List Climb
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Heading into his 17th season at age 36, Dirk Nowitzki remains one of the game's most unstoppably efficient scorers. No surprise, then, that he's in line to overtake some of the greatest point-producers in history.
With 26,786 career points, the Diggler already sits at No. 10 on the NBA's all-time scoring list. But if Nowitzki puts together a season as good as his 2013-14 effort, he'll move ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone—Hall of Famers all.
And if that new quick release we've been hearing so much about leads to slightly increased productivity, Nowitzki could motor past The Diesel. Shaquille O'Neal is currently 1,810 points ahead of Dirk, occupying sixth place on the scoring list. Nowitzki tallied 1,735 points last season, so adding another measly 76 points over a full campaign doesn't seem totally out of the question.
The only thing that might get in the way is a Dallas Mavericks team that is so good, Nowitzki might not have to exert himself during the regular season.
Per Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com: "No longer does Nowitzki feel like the Mavs must fight just to make the playoffs, as has been the case the last few years. Not after arguably the best summer in franchise history."
"I don't know if the [average] fan will see the difference. But I'm always trying to get better, and this is just a little tool for me to shoot a little quicker. We'll see how it works during the season," Nowitzki told Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
Nowitzki already has that one-legged flamingo fallaway in his arsenal. A quicker release hardly seems fair.
Heads up, scoring list elite; Dirk's coming for you.
LeBron James' Postseason Resume in for a Boost
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At this stage of his career, with four MVP awards already cluttering up his trophy case, LeBron James probably doesn't care much about regular-season statistics. At some point, the greats all recognize the first 82 games of a year for what they are: a precursor to the stuff that really matters.
Nonetheless, James will move into the top 20 on the all-time regular-season scoring list this year. He's got 23,170 points, and if he tallies another 2,000 (a figure he's surpassed in all but two years of his career), James will move past the likes of Adrian Dantley, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson and Patrick Ewing.
With a big year, he could climb as high as No. 15, moving past Reggie Miller and Jerry West.
But, again, regular-season stats are beneath King James these days. He'll care far more about joining truly elite company among all-time postseason scorers.
James is currently No. 8 on that list with 4,419 points. Assuming the Cleveland Cavaliers don't suffer an epically disappointing season, LBJ will move past West (4,457) and Karl Malone (4,761) easily. James scored at least 497 points in each of his last four postseasons, topping out with a ridiculous 697 in 2011-12.
Another trip to the Finals could even see James move within striking distance of O'Neal (5,250) for the No. 5 spot.
LeBron is 29 years old, by the way.
Twenty-nine.
This is getting ridiculous.
Tim Duncan: Playoff Legend
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The San Antonio Spurs have never missed the postseason with Tim Duncan on the roster, a run that has spanned four presidential terms and touched parts of three different decades.
With 234 playoff games, Timmy trails just three players on the all-time postseason games list. If the Spurs merely advance beyond the first round, Duncan will soldier past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (237 games) and move into third place.
If San Antonio reaches the conference finals, Robert Horry's 244 games will have fallen as well.
Derek Fisher sits atop the list with 259 playoff games, and to catch the current New York Knicks coach (it's still utterly bizarre to think of him that way), Duncan and the Spurs will have to not only win a title, but also survive at least four six-game series.
That's a tall order, but if anyone can do it, it's Duncan and his indomitable, ageless band of buddies.
And if he falls short of the all-time playoff games record, no worries; Duncan already ranks first in postseason minutes with a mind-bending 8,902—the equivalent of almost four additional high-usage regular seasons.
When he finally retires (if that ever happens), Timmy's gonna need a nap.
Kevin Garnett's Heavy Minutes
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Until we see Kevin Garnett toss on that black and white Brooklyn Nets jersey and saunter, growling, onto the floor this season, we can't be totally sure the milestone in his sights will fall. KG wasn't certain another season of hoops was the way he wanted to spend his 38th year on planet Earth.
It was touch and go there for a while, but Garnett's ready to rock now.
"This year, coming in with a little more edge, a little more assertiveness, kind of deferring back to when I came into this league and what I’ve created for myself," Garnett told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
If KG plays 48 games, he'll jump past Kevin Willis for fifth-most in the history of the NBA. And if he adds 1,201 minutes (he played 1,109 in 54 games last year), Garnett will surpass Jason Kidd for third place on the all-time minutes list.
This will be Garnett's 20th NBA season, which ties him with Abdul-Jabbar for the third-most in history. Only Robert Parish and Kevin Willis lasted longer.
Kobe and MJ, MJ and Kobe
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Throughout his career, Kobe Bryant has worked to make himself a Michael Jordan clone.
The verbal inflections and mannerisms, the slavish devotion to self-improvement and relentlessly competitive spirit...they're all there, all studied and appropriated to an astonishing degree. Incredible as Bryant's cultivated resemblance to Jordan is in those areas, it still pales in comparison to the on-court similarity.
It is uncanny. There's no other way to describe it.
And that's why it means so much that Bryant (31,700) can move ahead of Jordan (32,292) on the all-time scoring list this season.
Kobe needs just 593 points to overtake Jordan for third place, an achievement he'll reach in 29 games if he averages 20 points per contest and stays healthy.
Game No. 29 for the Los Angeles Lakers will come against the Chicago Bulls. In Chicago.
Almost too perfect, huh?
Bryant also needs another ring to tie Jordan's six, but let's not get too carried away.
You've seen the Los Angeles Lakers' roster, right? Not happening.
The points are pretty cool, though.
*All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
