Top-20 Most Unbreakable NBA Records Of All Time

Most Unbreakable NBA Records Of All Time
From the league's record books.

What are the most unbreakable NBA records ever?

“Records are made to be broken” is a common saying. However, anyone can well challenge that notion. Some records are made to stand the test time and immortalize the sports. NBA currently is in its 74th season, and it has seen phenomenal records been set repeatedly.

SportyTell lists the top-20 famous unbreakable NBA records in history.

These records are sure going to stand for a very long time. It will almost be impossible for any player or NBA team to challenge the numbers on this list. Fill your curiosity.

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The Most Unbreakable NBA Records Of All Time

20. Averaging 48.5 Minutes Per Game

20th on this list is held by the king of the NBA record book, Wilt Chamberlain. It was in the 1961-1962 season, and in the colors of the Philadelphia Warriors, he achieved this feat. In the NBA, 48 minutes make up a regular game. Wilt Chamberlain, who recorded a total career score of 31,419 points in his career, played every minute of the NBA 1961-1962 season, including overtime. Not precisely every single minute, but almost every minute.

Wilt Chamberlain NBA Record – Avg. 48.5 Min. Per Game
Philadelphia 76ers’ Wilt Chamberlain vs Nate Thurmond.

Chamberlain was known for his ardent ambition to be among the starting lineup, which he always achieved. He played in 99.8 percent of his team’s minutes. The 2010-2011 season saw an NBA player averaging over 40 minutes per game in the person of Monta Ellis, who hit 40.3.

19. 20 Free Throws Missed Without a Make

St. Louis Bombers’s Giff Roux, who played 151 career games, unfortunately, had his name in the NBA record books for this hilarious act of sport inefficiency. It was during a playoff game in the 1947-1948 season. Roux earned 20 calls to the lines, and he missed all 20. Bombers lost the match by four points difference. If Roux had made effective use of his free throws, Bomber would have emerged victorious in that game. 

18. 30 Assists in a Game

Orlando Magic’s Scott Skiles was one underrated point guard, and that was the perfect cover he needed to input a phenomenal performance that would see his name in the league’s record books. It was December 39, 1990. Orlando Magic was up against Denver Nuggets. Little did anyone anticipate Scott would smash a 12-year-old record by one assist. Orlando won the game by 155 points, and Scott scored 22 of those points and recorded 30 assists in the game. He recorded a total of 3,881 assists in his career. Impressive!

17. 118 50-Point Games

Wilt Chamberlain was an unstoppable scoring machine on the court. Most of his records feat are associated with scoring. He had 118 50-points games, which quadruples the second-most by the legendary Micheal Jordan at 31. Once, he recorded 45 50-point in a single season, a feat that takes players an entire career to achieve. He is also credited for the highest scoring average in a season with an average of 50.4 points per game.

16. Quadruple-Double

Only four players, namely Nate Thurmond, Alvin Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson, have achieved the quadruple-double in the NBA’s history. However, the NBA started tracking records of blocks and steals in gameplay in the 1973-1974 season. Most likely, a feat that would stand for decades to come as attaining a quadruple-double is much of a task than just winning a game. Draymond Green in 2017 came close to hitting it but missed out on points which brought him to a triple-double.

15. NBA Championships Won as a Player

The English dictionary wouldn’t be wrong to affiliate Bill Russell’s name synonymous with a champion’s definition. The five-time league MVP inputted 13 seasons in the NBA and won the NBA championship a whopping 11 times. Comparing other overall title winners in other sports, Bill Russell still conquers. NFL’s most title winner as a player, Tom Brady, stops at 6 Super Bowl, and in the MLB, Yogi Berra tops with 10 World Series wins. However, Bill outweighs them all with 11 NBA championship titles. That is one feat that likely might never be broken in the NBA.

14. 37 Points in a Quarter

Only a few players can make scoring points seem easy, like Klay Thompson. Wilt Chamberlain was the first basketball player to achieve this record with 31 points back in 1962, David Thompson followed it up in 1978 with 32 and George Gervin also in 1978 took it up to 33. However, Thompson surpassed them all, hitting it at a record of 37 points during the Golden State Warriors 126-101 win over the Sacramento Kings in 2015. 

13. 88 Games Played in a Season

Peaking 82 games features in the NBA today is a career achievement. However, Walt Bellamy enjoyed longevity in the NBA recording 88 gameplay in the 1968-1969 season. He didn’t achieve this feat with a single franchise. A midseason trade played a vital role in achievement. At the time, the rules of trades in the NBA weren’t as rigid as it is now, which requires trade players to pass through unintentional delaying process. Walt inputted 14-years in the NBA, which saw him play a total of 1,043 games.

12. Fastest Disqualification Due to Personal Fouls

Bubba Wells entered the league’s record books as he seems to have come into the game aside intending to win, a different motive, and that was policing Bulls’ dangerman Dennis Rodman. Every time Rodman had the ball and Wells was in the challenge of steal, he’d foul Rodman. The strategy only lasted 2 minutes and 43 seconds as he picked up his sixth foul, and his disqualification ensued. After Wells’ exit, Rodman went on scoring 9-of-12 free throws.

11. 107 Points in a Half by a Team

During the 1990-1991 season, the Phoenix was one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA, with an average 114 points per game. However, on November 10, 1990, they achieved the likely unimaginable until that moment. The Phoenix Suns scored a record 107 points in a game against the Denver Nuggets at halftime, winning the game by 173-143. That season saw Denver Nuggets concede the most points per game.

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10. 33-Game Winning Streak

1972 Lakers basketball team squad had a precious resource of players, which includes four Hall of Fame players — Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, and Elgin Baylor. This team kept the longest winning streak ever in the history of 70 years plus the NBA. For 33 games that span 65 days, they didn’t taste defeat. The 2015-2016 Philadelphia Warriors recorded something close but at a 28 game win streak.

9. 62,046 Attendance at a Game

The NBA recorded the highest attendance in its history in the Atlanta Hawks game against the Chicago Bulls at Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998. With this record-breaking 62,046 attendance, Michael Jordan gave the fans nothing short of a thrilling basketball show, hitting 34 points to aid the Bulls to a win.

From 1997-1999, the Atlanta Hawk’s present home arena was under construction, so they temporarily held home games in two arenas, Georgia Tech’s campus, which had less than 10,000 capacity and Georgia Dome, which contains a little over 62,000 capacity. The game against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bull was played in Georgia Dome.

8. 2 Consecutive Games Scoring 50-Plus Points in the Playoffs

This prolific NBA record belongs to the great Michael Jordan. He scored 50 in game 1 in the 1988 first round and repeated it with 55 points in game 2, thus recording two consecutive sets of scoring 50-plus points. This is one of those records that will stand the test of time and remain in existence for decades to come. Likely someone might equal the record in the coming years, however breaking it seems an impossible task.

7. 136 Consecutive Games With 100-Plus Points by a Team

Denver Nuggets basketball team of the 1980s was a sight to behold on the court. From January 21, 1981, to December 8, 1982, they set the 100-plus points record, scoring at least 100 points in every game for a total of 136 games. A hilarious fact to note, though they qualified for the playoffs, they never won a playoff game during this impressive streak. A few years before that, San Antonio Spurs had gone 117 games with a 100-plus point streak. In recent games of the new century, a streak of that kind hasn’t gone beyond 37 games.

6. 15,806 Career Assists

John Stockton holds the most career assist for an NBA player with 15,806. Before joining the NBA, he was much of a scorer in college basketball. Stockton tops the league in both assists per game and total assists for nine consecutive years. He also holds the top spot for all-time steals mark with 3,264.

5. 29 Minutes in a Game Without Any Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals or Blocks

Popularly referred to as “Club Trillion” for players who made no impact or recorded no stat on the court, Joel Anthony earned his name in the NBA record book for just that. Not something to emulate, however it quite a record.  In Miami Heat win against the Trail Blazers in 2011, Anthony made no statistical impact. No point scored, no assist, steals, rebounds or blocks. He was just present on the court, ceaselessly running for 29 minutes.

4. 98.1 Single-Season Free-Throw Percentage

Before Jose Calderon storm the scene to break this record, Calvin Murphy’s free-throw percentage of 95.81 was the all-time mark, and it stood for 28 years. Calderon, an 85 percent free-throw shooter before this achievement, hits successfully 151 of 154 free throws, which sum up to 98.1 percent to set the new record in the 2008-2009 NBA season.

3. 1,192 Consecutive Games Played

This record was set by A.C. Green “Iron Virgin,” whose career in the NBA spanned sixteen years. He kept up with his virginity throughout his 16-year career, which played a part in his feat. Although he missed three games in his second season in the league, he played for 1,192 consecutive games until his retirement. His appearance on the court was consistent. His feat is likely to stand perhaps forever as players don’t get playing appearance consecutively for such number.

2. 36-Point Comeback

The 1996-1997 Utah Jazz team was one of the best teams not to win a championship considering their regular wins. Utah Jazz entered the NBA record books for the only 36-point Comeback in the history of the NBA. They had been down 70-34 in the first half but returned 73-33 to win 107-103 in the rest of the game. Jeff Hornacek scored 29 points, along with Karl Malone’s 31 points. That win happened to be the eight straight victories of Utah’s 15-game winning streak.

1. 68-Point Margin of Victory

December 17, 1991, would be an essential date for the Cleveland Cavaliers and painful reminder of a significant Miami Heat loss. At halftime, Cleveland was leading by just 20 points. But then the game tide switched the heat against Miami, and they fell completely off the wagon. Cavalier outscored the Miami Heat team by 75-27 in the remaining half and won the game by 148-80 points.


Please feel free to share your thoughts about these most unbreakable NBA records of all time.

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