Wilt Chamberlain Holds the NBA Single-Game Scoring Record With 100 Points
Wilt Chamberlain scored an NBA-record 100 points in 1962. See the shots behind it, the game’s scoring environment and the nearest challengers.
Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA single-game scoring record with 100 points. He set the mark for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, in a 169–147 regular-season win in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The record still stands as of September 29, 2026.
Here is the scoring line behind 100:
| Stat | Chamberlain’s total |
|---|---|
| Minutes | 48 |
| Field goals | 36-for-63 |
| Field-goal percentage | 57.1% |
| Free throws | 28-for-32 |
| Free-throw percentage | 87.5% |
| Rebounds | 25 |
| Points | 100 |
The NBA did not adopt the 3-point field goal until the 1979–80 season, according to its historical season review. Every field goal in Chamberlain’s 1962 game was therefore worth two points: 36 × 2 + 28 = 100. The complete surviving box score records the same shooting line and credits him with 25 rebounds.
How the 100-point game unfolded
Chamberlain scored 23 points in the first quarter and had 41 by halftime. He added 28 in the third to reach 69 through three quarters, then scored 31 in the fourth.
As the milestone came within reach, the game increasingly revolved around getting Chamberlain the ball. New York fouled other Warriors to keep it away from him; Philadelphia committed fouls to regain possession. Chamberlain reached 100 on a short shot with 46 seconds remaining, according to the NBA’s account of the game.
The box score also shows the unusually high shot volume surrounding the record. The teams combined for 233 field-goal attempts and 93 free-throw attempts. Those figures are not a possession count—offensive rebounds and turnovers also matter—but they show that this was a high-volume scoring environment. Philadelphia attempted 115 field goals, and Chamberlain took 63 of them, or 54.8%. His 100 points represented 59.2% of the Warriors’ 169.
Free throws were essential. Chamberlain made 28, supplying more than one-quarter of his total, and converted 87.5% of his attempts. That was far above his 51.1% career rate cited in the NBA’s historical recap.
The performance also came during an extraordinary season rather than as an isolated scoring spike. Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and an NBA-record 48.5 minutes per game in 1961–62, as the league’s season review records.
Who has come closest?
Bam Adebayo moved into second place with 83 points in March 2026, passing Kobe Bryant’s 81. The four highest individual NBA game totals are:
| Rank | Player | Points | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilt Chamberlain | 100 | March 2, 1962 | Warriors beat Knicks, 169–147 |
| 2 | Bam Adebayo | 83 | March 10, 2026 | Heat beat Wizards, 150–129 |
| 3 | Kobe Bryant | 81 | January 22, 2006 | Lakers beat Raptors, 122–104 |
| 4 | Wilt Chamberlain | 78 | December 8, 1961 | Warriors lost to Lakers, 151–147 in three overtimes |
The NBA’s list of every 70-point game shows that Chamberlain produced six such performances, including the 100- and 78-point games.
Adebayo’s 83 came on 20-of-43 field-goal shooting, including seven 3-pointers, and 36-of-43 free-throw shooting. His 36 makes and 43 attempts at the line were both NBA single-game records, according to the NBA game report. That free-throw volume provided 43.4% of his points; our separate breakdown covers the most free throws in an NBA game.
Bryant used a different scoring mix for his 81: 28-of-46 from the field, 7-of-13 from three and 18-of-20 at the line. He scored 55 points after halftime while leading Los Angeles back from an 18-point deficit, as detailed in the NBA’s retrospective.
Regular-season, playoff and Finals records
Chamberlain’s 100 is both the regular-season record and the overall NBA single-game record. Postseason records are tracked separately:
- Overall and regular season: Wilt Chamberlain, 100
- Playoffs: Michael Jordan, 63 against Boston on April 20, 1986
- NBA Finals: Elgin Baylor, 61 against Boston on April 14, 1962
Jordan shot 22-for-41 from the field and 19-for-21 at the line in a double-overtime loss, as shown on the NBA’s postseason single-game scoring leaderboard. The Lakers’ history of Baylor identifies his 61 points in Game 5 of the 1962 series as the NBA Finals record.
Pace adjustment and efficiency metrics can help compare the difficulty and circumstances of performances from different eras, but they do not change the record itself. Single-game scoring is ranked by raw points, leaving Chamberlain’s 100 as the NBA mark to beat.