James Harden Becomes 11th Player In NBA History To Score 28K Points

Four weeks into the 2025–26 season, the Los Angeles Clippers have mostly found themselves on the wrong end of bad news. From injured starters to a dreadful win-loss record, the Clippers are going through a prolonged rough patch that doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

Barely two minutes into the Clippers’ Monday night showdown against the Philadelphia 76ers, James Harden had the ball in his hands off an Ivica Zubac rebound. Though the Sixers had gotten back on defense, Harden decided that it was time to go coast to coast. With no Philly player stopping the ball, Harden got all the way to the rim and scored on a layup over the outstretched arms of the returning Paul George.

With this basket, the Beard bumped his career scoring total to 28,001 points. History had been made.

The former MVP and scoring champion became just the 11th player in NBA history to reach the lofty milestone of 28,000 career points. While Harden would have certainly preferred to get a victory on this night as well (as they wound up losing 110–108 to the Sixers), Clippers fans can at least get excited for the scoring feats that are looming on the horizon.

Harden, who finished the game with a 28-6-5 stat line, now stands at a career total of 28,027 points. As such, he is just 262 points away from unseating Carmelo Anthony to become the 10th all-time in scoring. Anthony tallied 28,289 career points, and when Harden surpasses this mark, his next target will be Shaquille O’Neal’s total of 28,596.

Harden’s average this season is 26.2 points per game. At this rate, it will take him 10 games to match or even overtake Anthony. If Harden maintains this average, he’ll leapfrog the Diesel by January.

And if the future Hall of Famer stays healthy for a couple more seasons? He might even have a chance to inch closer to his former teammate Kevin Durant, who is currently eighth all-time and still active in the league. That would be a fun race to watch, but for now, Harden will have to find ways to translate his historic scoring into much-needed wins for the Clippers.