Victor Wembanyama in the “50 point club” • Basket USA

Last night, Victor Wembanyama therefore reached the 50-point mark during an NBA match, and “Wemby” said he was “proud” to join this club. He is only the second Frenchman to do so, after Tony Parker (55 points) and the sixth European, after Giannis Antetokounmpo (9 times), Luka Doncic (6 times), Dirk Nowitzki (2 times), Nikola Jokic (1 times) and therefore Tony Parker (1 time).

In the history of the league, counting Victor Wembanyama, there are still 168 players who have entered the “50 point club” since the beginnings of the NBA, even if it should be noted that they are not only 70 have done it several times, and therefore 98 have succeeded only once. Obviously, it is Wilt Chamberlain who did it the most often, with 118 games at 50 points or more. He is ahead Michael Jordan (31), Kobe Bryant (25), James Harden (23) et Elgin Baylor (17).

From the handful to the multitude

Enough to explain that it was during the year 1962 that the most 50-point matches were recorded in the regular season (51), ahead of the year 1961 (38) then the year 2022 (28).

Number of 50-point games per year

But what is particularly interesting is that the surge in recent seasons is the result of a growing number of players. Until 2015, matches with more than 50 points were the work of a group of three to eight scorers. In 2022, however, there have been 18 different players who have reached this bar!

La liste ? Anthony Davis, Darius Garland, DeMar DeRozan, Devin Booker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Pascal Siakam, Saddiq Bey, Stephen Curry et finalement Trae Young.

Number of different players having reached 50 points per year

Malachi Flynn and the surprise explosions

As for who are the players whose place in this “50 point club” is the most surprising, we can obviously cite Malachi Flynnwho did it a few months ago while coming off the bench for the Pistons, and he only averages 5.5 points in his career. He is currently in the G-League…

Before him, there had been Walt Wesley (8.5 points career average) and his 50-point explosion on February 19, 1971, or even Corey Brewer (8.7 career points average) and his 51-point match on April 11, 2014. While his second best mark in the Great League is only 29 points!

Let us also mention Tracy Murray, Tony Delk, Willie Burton, Dana Barros or even Terrence Ross et Andre Millermore accustomed to distributing the caviar than taking all the shots. Except this January 31, 2010, against the Mavs.

The complete list of the “50 points club”