Before 2017-18, Kevin Durant scored the most points per game by a forward, with 28.1 per game.

Interpreted as:

highest career ppg with a minimum of 41 games played per 82 team games forward before 2018

	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	28.1	623	37.7	7.5	4.0	1.2	1.1	9.4	19.1	49.4	1.9	5.0	38.5	7.3	8.3	88.3	61.8	0.8	6.7	3.2	23,510	17,497	4,683	2,471	762	663	1,989	1,208	+3326
2	LeBron James L. James	27.6	982	38.9	7.4	7.1	1.6	0.8	10.0	19.7	50.8	1.4	4.2	34.4	6.2	8.4	73.9	59.1	1.2	6.2	3.4	38,151	27,133	7,274	6,996	1,619	759	3,346	1,828	+6323
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	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
8	Carmelo Anthony C. Anthony	24.8	976	36.2	6.6	3.1	1.1	0.5	8.8	19.5	45.2	1.2	3.5	34.6	5.9	7.2	81.3	54.4	1.8	4.8	2.8	35,334	24,156	6,431	3,057	1,030	471	2,725	2,833	+1411
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	Andrew Wiggins A. Wiggins	22.1	163	36.2	3.8	2.2	1.0	0.5	8.0	17.6	45.5	1.0	2.9	33.4	5.2	6.8	76.1	53.8	1.3	2.5	2.3	5,893	3,608	619	353	160	76	369	348	-84
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	Dirk Nowitzki D. Nowitzki	21.6	1,241	34.5	7.6	2.5	0.8	0.8	7.6	16.1	47.3	1.2	3.2	38.3	5.1	5.8	88.1	57.8	1.0	6.6	1.7	42,867	26,801	9,468	3,103	983	1,037	2,145	2,941	+5846
22	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
23	Blake Griffin B. Griffin	21.5	471	35.2	9.4	4.1	1.0	0.6	8.3	16.0	51.8	0.2	0.6	29.9	4.7	7.0	67.3	56.2	2.5	6.9	2.5	16,567	10,117	4,424	1,954	454	268	1,159	1,412	+2354
24	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
25	Paul George P. George	21.2	321	35.7	6.9	3.7	1.8	0.4	7.2	16.8	43.0	2.4	6.4	37.3	4.4	5.1	86.0	55.8	0.9	6.0	3.0	11,469	6,816	2,222	1,196	570	130	954	872	+1105