career leaders in total points before 1998

Before 1997-98, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored the most points, with 38,387 points.

	NAME	PTS	GP	MIN	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	TS%	OREB	DREB	TOV	PF	+/-	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG
1	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar K. Abdul-Jabbar	38,387	1,560	57,446	17,440	5,660	1,160	3,189	15,837	28,307	55.9	1	18	5.6	6,712	9,304	72.1	59.2	2,975	9,394	2,527	4,657		36.8	24.6	11.2	3.6	0.9	2.6	2.7
2	Wilt Chamberlain W. Chamberlain	31,419	1,045	47,859	23,924	4,643			12,681	23,497	54.0				6,057	11,862	51.1	54.7				2,075		45.8	30.1	22.9	4.4
3	Moses Malone M. Malone	27,409	1,329	45,071	16,212	1,796	1,089	1,733	9,435	19,225	49.1	8	80	10.0	8,531	11,090	76.9	56.9	6,731	9,481	3,804	3,076		33.9	20.6	12.2	1.4	0.8	1.3	3.1
4	Elvin Hayes E. Hayes	27,313	1,303	50,000	16,279	2,398	864	1,771	10,976	24,272	45.2	5	34	14.7	5,356	7,999	67.0	49.1	2,778	6,973	1,358	4,193		38.4	21.0	12.5	1.8	1.0	2.0	2.4
5	Michael Jordan M. Jordan	26,920	848	32,706	5,361	4,729	2,165	783	10,081	19,793	50.9	525	1,544	34.0	6,233	7,394	84.3	58.4	1,417	3,944	2,404	2,342	+818	38.6	31.7	6.3	5.6	2.6	0.9	2.8
6	Oscar Robertson O. Robertson	26,710	1,040	43,886	7,804	9,887	77	4	9,508	19,620	48.5				7,694	9,185	83.8	56.4	71	208		2,931		42.2	25.7	7.5	9.5	1.1	0.1
7	Dominique Wilkins D. Wilkins	26,534	1,047	37,861	7,098	2,661	1,374	641	9,913	21,457	46.2	706	2,212	31.9	6,002	7,396	81.2	53.7	2,920	4,178	2,646	2,042	-402	36.2	25.3	6.8	2.5	1.3	0.6	2.5
8	John Havlicek J. Havlicek	26,395	1,270	46,471	8,007	6,114	476	117	10,513	23,930	43.9				5,369	6,589	81.5	49.2	610	1,389	204	3,281		36.6	20.8	6.3	4.8	1.2	0.3	2.5
9	Alex English A. English	25,613	1,193	38,063	6,538	4,351	1,067	833	10,659	21,036	50.7	18	83	21.7	4,277	5,141	83.2	55.0	2,778	3,760	2,821	3,027		31.9	21.5	5.5	3.6	0.9	0.7	2.5
10	Karl Malone K. Malone	25,592	980	36,799	10,542	3,183	1,417	804	9,510	18,032	52.7	67	250	26.8	6,505	8,983	72.4	58.2	2,667	7,875	3,064	3,213	+768	37.6	26.1	10.8	3.2	1.4	0.8	3.1
11	Jerry West J. West	25,192	932	36,571	5,376	6,238	81	23	9,016	19,032	47.4				7,160	8,801	81.4	55.0	30	86		2,435		39.2	27.0	5.8	6.7	2.6	0.7
12	Hakeem Olajuwon H. Olajuwon	23,650	978	36,833	11,739	2,628	1,811	3,363	9,400	18,226	51.6	21	103	20.4	4,829	6,743	71.6	55.8	3,525	8,214	3,150	3,695	+382	37.7	24.2	12.0	2.7	1.9	3.4	3.2
13	Robert Parish R. Parish	23,334	1,611	45,704	14,715	2,180	1,219	2,361	9,614	17,914	53.7	0	6	0.0	4,106	5,694	72.1	57.1	4,598	10,117	3,183	4,443	+105	28.4	14.5	9.1	1.4	0.8	1.5	2.1
14	Adrian Dantley A. Dantley	23,177	955	34,151	5,455	2,830	944	150	8,169	15,121	54.0	7	41	17.1	6,832	8,351	81.8	61.7	2,207	3,248	2,503	2,550		35.8	24.3	5.7	3.0	1.0	0.2	2.9
15	Elgin Baylor E. Baylor	23,149	846	33,863	11,463	3,650			8,693	20,171	43.1				5,763	7,391	78.0	49.4				2,596		40.0	27.4	13.5	4.3
16	Larry Bird L. Bird	21,791	897	34,443	8,974	5,695	1,556	755	8,591	17,334	49.6	649	1,727	37.6	3,960	4,471	88.6	56.4	1,757	7,217	2,816	2,279		38.4	24.3	10.0	6.3	1.7	0.8	3.1
17	Charles Barkley C. Barkley	21,756	943	34,941	11,027	3,743	1,520	843	7,728	14,137	54.7	510	1,885	27.1	5,790	7,869	73.6	61.8	3,781	7,246	3,085	2,963	+312	37.1	23.1	11.7	4.0	1.6	0.9	3.3
18	Hal Greer H. Greer	21,586	1,122	39,788	5,665	4,540			8,504	18,811	45.2				4,578	5,717	80.1	50.6				3,855		35.5	19.2	5.0	4.0
19	Patrick Ewing P. Ewing	21,539	913	33,403	9,513	1,959	979	2,516	8,449	16,478	51.3	19	116	16.4	4,622	6,204	74.5	56.1	2,295	7,218	3,003	3,301	+315	36.6	23.6	10.4	2.1	1.1	2.8	3.3
20	Walt Bellamy W. Bellamy	20,941	1,043	38,940	14,241	2,544	52	48	7,914	15,340	51.6				5,113	8,088	63.2	55.4	264	481		3,536		37.3	20.1	13.7	2.4	0.7	0.6
21	Clyde Drexler C. Drexler	20,908	1,016	35,064	6,331	5,743	2,081	677	7,883	16,614	47.4	721	2,269	31.8	4,421	5,616	78.7	54.8	2,510	3,821	2,788	3,092	+365	34.5	20.6	6.2	5.7	2.0	0.7	2.7
22	Bob Pettit B. Pettit	20,880	792	30,690	12,849	2,369			7,349	16,872	43.6				6,182	8,119	76.1	51.1				2,529		38.8	26.4	16.2	3.0
23	George Gervin G. Gervin	20,708	791	26,536	3,607	2,214	941	670	8,045	15,747	51.1	77	259	29.7	4,541	5,383	84.4	57.2	1,186	2,421	2,137	2,331		33.5	26.2	4.6	2.8	1.2	0.8	3.0
24	Tom Chambers T. Chambers	20,043	1,106	33,912	6,701	2,283	883	627	7,376	15,747	46.8	227	740	30.7	5,064	6,272	80.7	54.2	1,942	4,759	2,548	3,740	-49	30.7	18.1	6.1	2.1	0.8	0.6	2.3
25	Bernard King B. King	19,655	874	29,417	5,060	2,863	866	230	7,830	15,109	51.8	23	134	17.2	3,972	5,444	73.0	56.1	1,704	3,356	2,791	2,885		33.7	22.5	5.8	3.3	1.0	0.3	3.2