Before 2016-17, Kevin Durant put up the most points per game by a forward, with 28.4 per game.

Interpreted as:

highest career ppg with a minimum of 41 games played per 82 team games forward before 2017

	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	28.4	561	38.2	7.4	3.9	1.2	1.0	9.5	19.4	49.0	1.9	5.0	38.7	7.5	8.5	88.3	61.5	0.8	6.6	3.3	21,440	15,942	4,170	2,171	696	564	1,851	1,091	+2615
2	LeBron James L. James	27.7	908	38.9	7.3	7.0	1.7	0.8	10.0	19.8	50.5	1.4	4.1	34.3	6.4	8.5	74.3	58.9	1.2	6.1	3.4	35,356	25,179	6,635	6,350	1,527	715	3,043	1,694	+5840
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	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
7	Carmelo Anthony C. Anthony	24.9	902	36.4	6.6	3.2	1.1	0.5	8.9	19.6	45.3	1.1	3.3	34.4	6.0	7.4	81.2	54.5	1.9	4.8	2.9	32,796	22,497	5,993	2,844	970	437	2,572	2,635	+1638
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	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
18	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
19	Dirk Nowitzki D. Nowitzki	21.9	1,187	34.9	7.7	2.5	0.8	0.8	7.7	16.3	47.5	1.2	3.2	38.3	5.2	5.9	88.1	58.0	1.0	6.7	1.8	41,443	26,032	9,115	3,021	953	999	2,094	2,828	+5860
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	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
23	Blake Griffin B. Griffin	21.5	410	35.3	9.6	4.0	1.0	0.6	8.4	16.0	52.1	0.1	0.4	27.1	4.6	7.0	66.1	56.1	2.5	7.0	2.5	14,491	8,801	3,927	1,654	397	246	1,017	1,255	+1914
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