Before 2015-16, Kevin Durant scored the most points per game by a forward, with 28.5 per game.

Interpreted as:

highest career ppg with a minimum of 41 games played per 82 team games forward before 2016

	NAME	PPG	GP	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	TS%	OREB	DREB	TPG	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	+/-
1	Kevin Durant K. Durant	28.5	489	38.6	7.3	3.7	1.3	1.0	9.5	19.4	48.8	1.8	4.8	38.7	7.7	8.7	88.2	61.2	0.8	6.5	3.3	18,862	13,913	3,581	1,810	627	479	1,601	954	+1968
2	LeBron James L. James	28.0	832	39.2	7.3	7.0	1.7	0.8	10.0	19.9	50.3	1.4	4.2	34.5	6.5	8.7	74.4	58.9	1.2	6.1	3.4	32,647	23,259	6,070	5,836	1,423	666	2,794	1,551	+5222
3	Elgin Baylor E. Baylor	27.4	846	40.0	13.5	4.3			10.3	23.8	43.1				6.8	8.7	78.0	49.4				33,863	23,149	11,463	3,650				2,596
4	Michael Redd M. Redd	26.7	53	38.4	3.7	2.3	1.2	0.2	9.0	19.3	46.5	2.2	5.8	38.2	6.5	7.8	82.9	58.6	0.8	2.9	2.3	2,036	1,416	196	124	63	9	122	78	+1
5	Bob Pettit B. Pettit	26.4	792	38.8	16.2	3.0			9.3	21.3	43.6				7.8	10.3	76.1	51.1				30,690	20,880	12,849	2,369				2,529
6	Carmelo Anthony C. Anthony	25.2	830	36.5	6.6	3.1	1.1	0.5	9.0	19.7	45.5	1.1	3.2	34.5	6.2	7.6	81.1	54.6	1.9	4.6	2.9	30,266	20,924	5,437	2,545	908	399	2,396	2,455	+1679
7	Karl Malone K. Malone	25.0	1,476	37.2	10.1	3.6	1.4	0.8	9.2	17.8	51.6	0.1	0.2	27.4	6.6	8.9	74.2	57.7	2.4	7.7	3.1	54,852	36,928	14,968	5,248	2,085	1,145	4,524	4,578	+3010
8	Dominique Wilkins D. Wilkins	24.8	1,074	35.5	6.7	2.5	1.3	0.6	9.3	20.1	46.1	0.7	2.1	31.9	5.6	6.9	81.1	53.6	2.7	3.9	2.5	38,113	26,668	7,169	2,677	1,378	642	2,669	2,061	-392
9	Larry Bird L. Bird	24.3	897	38.4	10.0	6.3	1.7	0.8	9.6	19.3	49.6	0.7	1.9	37.6	4.4	5.0	88.6	56.4	2.0	8.0	3.1	34,443	21,791	8,974	5,695	1,556	755	2,816	2,279
10	Adrian Dantley A. Dantley	24.3	955	35.8	5.7	3.0	1.0	0.2	8.6	15.8	54.0	0.0	0.1	17.1	7.2	8.7	81.8	61.7	2.3	3.4	2.9	34,151	23,177	5,455	2,830	944	150	2,503	2,550
11	Lou Hudson L. Hudson	24.0	468	37.4	5.5	2.9	2.3	0.4	9.8	20.0	49.0				4.4	5.6	79.1	53.5	1.8	3.4		17,514	11,233	2,591	1,355	173	31		1,371
12	Rick Barry R. Barry	23.2	794	36.3	6.5	5.1	2.0	0.5	9.1	20.4	44.9	1.0	3.1	33.0	4.8	5.3	90.0	51.0	0.9	4.3	2.5	28,825	18,395	5,168	4,017	1,104	269	574	2,264
13	George Gervin G. Gervin	23.1	82	33.0	5.5	2.9	1.3	1.3	8.9	16.3	54.4				5.4	6.5	83.3	60.4	1.6	3.9		2,705	1,895	454	238	105	104		286
14	Julius Erving J. Erving	22.8	702	34.6	7.1	4.0	1.9	1.6	9.0	17.6	51.2	0.0	0.2	25.3	4.8	6.2	77.4	56.2	2.5	4.5	3.1	24,285	16,019	4,967	2,785	1,319	1,117	1,951	1,953
15	Paul Arizin P. Arizin	22.8	713	38.4	8.6	2.3			7.9	18.7	42.1				7.0	8.7	81.0	50.6				24,897	16,266	6,129	1,665				2,764
16	Bernard King B. King	22.5	874	33.7	5.8	3.3	1.0	0.3	9.0	17.3	51.8	0.0	0.2	17.2	4.5	6.2	73.0	56.1	1.9	3.8	3.2	29,417	19,655	5,060	2,863	866	230	2,791	2,885
17	Dirk Nowitzki D. Nowitzki	22.2	1,112	35.1	7.8	2.6	0.8	0.9	7.8	16.4	47.6	1.2	3.1	38.5	5.3	6.1	88.1	58.1	1.0	6.7	1.8	39,079	24,660	8,626	2,889	901	947	2,010	2,667	+5603
18	Charles Barkley C. Barkley	22.1	1,073	36.7	11.7	3.9	1.5	0.8	7.9	14.5	54.1	0.5	1.9	26.6	5.9	8.1	73.5	61.2	4.0	7.7	3.1	39,330	23,757	12,546	4,215	1,648	888	3,376	3,287	+532
19	Tim Duncan T. Duncan	22.1	666	37.9	12.0	3.1	0.8	2.5	8.4	16.7	50.5	0.0	0.2	20.4	5.2	7.5	68.5	55.1	3.2	8.8	2.9	25,240	14,689	8,020	2,092	529	1,650	1,928	1,833	+4841
20	Jason Richardson J. Richardson	21.8	82	38.4	5.4	3.1	1.4	0.7	7.9	17.9	44.1	3.0	7.3	40.6	3.0	4.0	75.2	55.4	1.0	4.4	2.0	3,149	1,788	441	258	116	57	166	241	-225
21	Patrick Ewing P. Ewing	21.5	63	35.0	8.8	1.7	1.4	2.3	8.4	16.7	50.3	0.0	0.1	0.0	4.7	6.6	71.3	54.9	2.5	6.3	3.6	2,206	1,356	555	104	89	147	229	248
22	Blake Griffin B. Griffin	21.5	375	35.5	9.7	4.0	1.0	0.6	8.3	15.9	52.3	0.1	0.4	26.3	4.7	7.2	65.6	56.3	2.6	7.0	2.5	13,321	8,052	3,633	1,484	369	229	934	1,160	+1732
23	Alex English A. English	21.5	1,193	31.9	5.5	3.6	0.9	0.7	8.9	17.6	50.7	0.0	0.1	21.7	3.6	4.3	83.2	55.0	2.3	3.2	2.5	38,063	25,613	6,538	4,351	1,067	833	2,821	3,027
24	Michael Jordan M. Jordan	21.2	142	36.1	5.9	4.4	1.5	0.5	8.7	20.1	43.1	0.2	0.8	24.1	3.7	4.6	80.5	48.0	0.9	5.0	2.4	5,124	3,015	836	621	208	65	335	290	+22
25	John Drew J. Drew	21.2	639	30.6	7.3	1.6	1.4	0.3	7.6	16.2	47.1	0.0	0.1	12.9	6.0	8.0	74.4	53.8	3.1	4.2	2.8	19,568	13,553	4,668	1,054	894	189	1,168	2,368