15 Greatest Individual Seasons In NBA History (2024)

Throughout the 72 seasons in NBA history, there have been many outstanding players and absolute legends, and thus there have been many extraordinary individual campaigns. Although some of these all-stars had special advantages and conditions, not one of them was undeserving.

Outstanding weeks or months, exorbitant records in scoring, rebounds, assists or blocks, individual awards, championships; we have taken into account everything to establish what are the 10 greatest individual seasons in NBA history.

Moses Malone Led The 76ers To The Championship In The 1982-83 Season

Moses Malone came to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1982, and he wasted no time proving his value. Malone had a memorable season, leading his new team to a championship victory. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the season, and rightfully so, as he averaged 24.5 points, 15.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game, with a 25.1 Player Efficiency Rating. Malone played even better in the playoffs and was named Finals MVP as well.

LeBron James' 2008-09 Season Was Incredible

LeBron & The Cavaliers Lost In The Conference Finals

LeBron James earned his first MVP award after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to 66 wins, the most in the NBA that season. James was an all-around player and not only contributed on offense but defensively as well, with 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Cleveland was eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, but LeBron had an incredible postseason, averaging 35.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and an all-time-high 37.4 Player Efficiency Rating.

Tim Duncan Was Unstoppable In The 2002-2003 Season

Tim Duncan Led The San Antonio Spurs To Win The Championship

As you can see in the video, Tim Duncan stole the show with a 21-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist, 8-block performance to win the 2003 NBA Finals. That was one of the most impressive performances in an NBA Finals game of all time. It was the ideal way to cap a legendary season, in which he showed a superlative level throughout the regular season to take MVP honors. In addition to his 23.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, Duncan recorded 2.9 blocks per game and 7.7 Value Over Replacement Player that year.

Larry Bird Won His Third Straight MVP In The 1985-1986 Season

Larry Bird Established Himself As An All-Time Great That Year

Larry Bird's 1985-86 season was one for the ages, as he averaged 25.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 82 games, with a 25.6 Player Efficiency Rating and 15.7 Win Shares.

His stellar performance earned him his third consecutive MVP award. Bird maintained his elite level in the playoffs and earned his third championship ring with the Boston Celtics.

Wilt Chamberlain's 1966-1967 Season Was Unbelievable

Chamberlain Won Everything With The Philadelphia 76ers

Wilt Chamberlain is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and he had several seasons that deserve to be on this list. For example, in the 1966-67 season, Chamberlain was named MVP and was Rebounding Champion, with 24.2 rebounds per game. Not to mention, he scored 24.1 points and dished out 7.8 assists per game. Chamberlain was a beast in the playoffs as well and led the Philadelphia 76ers to the title.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Was A Monster In The 2019-2020 Season

Giannis Was Named MVP & Defensive Player Of The Year

Giannis Antetokounmpo, year after year, became a more complete player, and in 2019-2020, he had what, so far, has been his most outstanding individual campaign. 63 games, all as a starter, for averages of 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, and he had a 31.9 Player Efficiency Rating and 11.5 box plus/minus.

The Greek Freak also had a place on the All-NBA team, All-Defensive team, and he was named Defensive Player of the year and MVP. Unfortunately for Giannis, that year he could not win the championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. It's very clear why Antetokounmpo made the cover of NBA 2K19 with these numbers.

Bill Russell Was In A League Of His Own In The 1964-1965 Season

Bill Russell Grabbed 25.2 Rebounds Per Game

The 1964-1965 season of the multi-champion and franchise player of the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell, cannot be absent from this list. MVP, All-Star Game appearance, rebounding champion (24.1 rebounds per game) and his seventh consecutive NBA championship ring speak for Russell's unforgettable season. In the playoffs, he recorded 25.2 rebounds, 16.5 points and 6.3 assists per game, just ridiculous.

Wilt Chamberlain Had An Insane Rookie Season In 1959-1960

Wilt Chamberlain Took MVP Honors

Wilt Chamberlain's debut season was but a foreshadowing of what would be a spectacular NBA career with multiple awards and achievements both individually and collectively.

Rookie of the Year, first call to an All-Star Game, in which he was also the most valuable player, leader in points per game, with 37.6, leader in rebounds per game, with 27, and also leader in Player Efficiency Rating (28.1) and Win Shares (17.0). Despite such individual numbers, that year the champions were the Boston Celtics.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Was A Threat In The 1975-1976 Season

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Was Amazing Both Offensively & Defensively

The all-time NBA scoring leader with 38,387 points, had among his several outstanding campaigns in his career an especially outstanding one. In 1975-1976, at the age of 28 and in his first and best year with the Los Angeles Lakers, he averaged 27.7 points, 16.9 rebounds (league leader), 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 4.1 blocks per game (league leader).

He also led the league in triple-doubles (five), Player Efficiency Rating (27.2), Value Over Replacement Player (9.0) and Win Shares (17.0). Needless to say, he was the MVP of the season.

Wilt Chamberlain Scored 50.4 Points Per Game In The 1961-1962 Season

Wilt Chamberlain Made History With A 100-Point Game

A monstrous year was achieved by Wilt Chamberlain in his third season in the NBA. With the figures of 4029 total points and an imposing average of 50.4 points per game, plus the amazing average of 25.7 rebounds per game. He recorded 15 games with more than 60 points scored, including the record-setting game in which he scored 100 points, on March 2, 1962, against the New York Knicks. Believe or not, he was not named MVP of the season (Bill Russell took the honors).

Nikola Jokić Had A Historic Season In 2021-2022

Nikola Jokić Set An All-Time Record In Player Efficiency Rating

Nikola Jokić certainly didn't make it past the first round of the playoffs against the eventual champion Golden State Warriors, but individually, he tore it up. He was named MVP for the second straight season, and rightfully so.

In terms of traditional stats, he recorded 19 triple doubles, with averages of 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. In terms of advanced stats, he led the league in Win Shares (15.2), Box Plus/Minus (13.7), Value Over Replacement Player (9.8) and he set an all-time record in Player Efficiency Rating (32.8).

LeBron James Had Arguably His Greatest Season in 2011-2012

LeBron James Was Named MVP, & Finals MVP

Throughout his 20-year NBA career, King James has been a pretty consistent player, and his outstanding numbers reflect that. He is always having superlative averages both offensively and defensively, but if we must choose, his best campaign was arguably in 2011-2012.

He won a Championship ring with the Miami Heat, he was the MVP of the season and finals MVP, All-Star Game appearance, All-NBA, All-Defensive, 27.1 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game, 6.2 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Insane.

Michael Jordan Reclaimed His Throne In The 1995-1996 Season

It Was Jordan's First Full Season Back After His First Retirement

After being out of the big competition for practically 2 years due to his experiment of playing baseball, Michael Jordan returned to reclaim his throne and he did it in a very convincing way. In his first full-season after that absence, he averaged 30.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game, in addition to his dominant and spectacular play to which he had been accustomed to throughout his career.

Once again, he led the Bulls to the championship, and he won the MVP, Finals MVP, All-Star Game MVP, he was scoring champion, and leader in Value Over Replacement Player and Box Plus/minus.

Michael Jordan Had An Incredible Season In 1987-1988

Michael Jordan Was The MVP & Defensive Player Of The Year

Air Jordan, still quite young at only 24 years old, had a dream season in which only the mighty "Bad Boys" of Detroit were able to avoid what would have been a possible perfect season for His Airness, by eliminating his Chicago Bulls in the playoffs and killing the possibility of Mike's first championship.

However, in the regular season, Jordan managed to lead in points per game (35.0), steals (3.2), PER (31.7), VORP (12.5) and Box Plus/minus (13.0). Michael Jordan made the All-Nba and All-Defensive teams, he went to the All-Star Game where he was also the most valuable player, and he won the MVP award and the Defensive Player of the year award. Not even in a video game can you do that.

Shaquille O'Neal Was Unstoppable In The 1999-2000 Season

Shaquille O'Neal Won It All That Year

In 1999-2000, Shaquille O'Neal had arguably the greatest season in NBA history. To this day, there has not been a season as dominant individually and collectively.

Scoring Champion with 29.7 points per game, second-best rebounder with 13.6 per game, third-best blocker with 3.0 per game, first in field goal percentage (57.4), first in PER (30.6), first in Box Plus/minus (9.3), first in VORP (9.0), All-Star Game MVP, Finals MVP, and MVP of the season. Unbelievable.