Bam Adebayo improved his career scoring high by 42 points. That's an all-time NBA record
Not only was three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo’s 83-point scoring outburst unexpected and perhaps a microcosm of the league’s current issues with tanking teams and defensive ineptitude, but it was also historic in a multitude of ways.
Besides the obvious – Adebayo setting the new modern NBA scoring record, post-induction of the three-point line – it was also the biggest improvement in career scoring high by a player in NBA history at 42 points. Prior to Adebayo’s 83-point night against the Washington Wizards on March 10, 2025, his career scoring high was 41 points, a total he put up on Jan. 23, 2021, against the Brooklyn Nets, which came over five years before his history-making game against the Wizards.
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Adebayo took this record from two players, one of them being Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. Booker’s career scoring high jumped from 39 points, set on Nov. 11, 2016, against the Los Angeles Lakers, to 70 points on March 24, 2017, vs. the Boston Celtics, a leap of 31 points.
Rounding out the Top 3 is Kenny Lofton Jr., who matched Booker’s 31-point jump. Lofton hit his new career high on April 9, 2023, dropping 42 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder. What makes that number so striking is that his previous career-high was just 11 points. Lofton’s NBA career lasted only 45 games, and he scored in double digits in just seven of them – which arguably makes his 42-point night an even bigger outlier than Adebayo’s. (We’re being facetious, but only to an extent.)
Biggest scoring leaps
Another way in which Adebayo’s huge outing made history was that it was by far the biggest scoring leap a player with at least 600 games played has ever made. The previous record was held by the late, great Kobe Bryant… at a meager 19-point jump, which happened on his 81-point night. Bryant had played in 666 regular-season games before his 81-point explosion, when he improved his previous career-high in points by 19. For Adebayo to make a 42-point improvement 625 games into his career is completely unheard of.
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What does that say about the current state of the NBA, particularly with regard to certain teams shamelessly mailing it in by late February? Things might get interesting with that, especially as historic NBA records start to fall because some teams are purposely trying to lose games. Regardless, Adebayo’s night was a special one, and should be celebrated as such.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Bam Adebayo improved his career scoring high by 42 points. That’s an all-time NBA record