Most Total Rebounds, Career (Regular Season)
Current Leader: Wilt Chamberlain (23,924)
No active player is even close. Even some of the game's best rebounders are at least 7000 boards fewer than Wilt's totals. I don't see this one being eclipsed any time soon.
Most Blocks, Career (Regular Season)
Current Leader: Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830)
Dikembe Mutombo is the closest active player, but he's still 834 blocks behind and probably won't be around long enough to come much closer to the record.
Most Steals, Career (Regular Season)
Current Leader: John Stockton (3,265)
Gary Payton is the only active player in the top five, but he's more than 1000 steals short of Stock. The Glove could most likely be top three by the end of his career (assuming he stays in the league for a few more years) but Stock's record is out of reach.
Most Assists, Career (Regular Season)
Current Leader: John Stockton (15,806)
Assuming Mark Jackson is done, Gary Payton is once again the closest active player to Stock, but the difference between their totals is almost as much as Rod Strickland (the player right after Payton on the career assist leaders) has totalled during his career. Even if Mark Jackson doesn't call it quits, he's still around 5000 assists away from Stock.
Most Points, Career (Regular Season)
Current Leader: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387)
As we all know, the Mailman is sneaking up on this record, but last season's injury has hurt his chances a little. He'll need to average at least 17.8 ppg to make the record in 82 games. His chances of breaking the record are less likely than they were a couple of years ago, but it could still happen.
Most Total Rebounds, Career (Playoffs)
Current Leader: Bill Russell (4,104)
Just the regular season mark for total career rebounds, no active player is close. With teams grabbing few total rebounds these days, it's difficult to imagine another player shooting up the ranks and knocking off Russell.
Most Blocks, Career (Playoffs)
Current Leader: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (476)
After overtaking Kareem in the regular season totals, Hakeem Olajuwon fell just four blocks short of the lead for the playoff career totals. Shaq is third with 313, but I don't see him playing long enough or blocking enough shots to take the lead.
Most Steals, Career (Playoff)
Current Leader: Scottie Pippen (395)
No active player is in the top ten. I think the great players that fill the top ten spots will remain in place for years to come.
Most Assists, Career (Playoffs)
Current Leader: Magic Johnson (2,346)
The top five playoff career assist leaders are Magic, Stockton, Bird, Pippen and (believe it or not) Michael Jordan, all with at least 1000 assists. No active player is in the top ten. I think Magic will reign supreme on the leaders board for quite some time.
Most Points, Career (Playoffs)
Current Leader: Michael Jordan (5,987)
Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal are in the top ten, but Malone (assuming he'd appear in every post season game possible this year) would have to average around 44 ppg, or 22 ppg over the next two postseasons - if he played all seven games in each round. It's tough to call scoring records unbeatable - who would have thought Karl Malone would be closing in on Kareem - but like Wilt's 100 points, beating this scoring record would be quite a feat.
Single Game Records (Regular Season)
Most Points: Wilt Chamberlain (100)
I think it can be beaten, but it's highly unlikely because no one else in the history of the game has been given more than 60 field goal attempts in a single game. Other great scorers could probably score 100 or more given the chance, especially now that there's a three point line, but they just won't get the opportunity.
Most Steals: Larry Kenon, Kendall Gill (11)
A lot of players have registered at least 10 steals and Gill tied the record only a few years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if this record was broken by one of the game's best thieves.
Most Blocks: Elmore Smith (17)
Shaq once blocked 15 shots, perhaps this season he'll have the motivation to beat that record. Still, I think this is going to be a very difficult record to beat.
Most Assists: Scott Skiles (30)
John Stockton once dished out 28 assists, incidentally the same season Skiles set the new record besting Kevin Porter's mark of 29 set back in 1978. I think the offense these days is just too slow and too many players go one-on-one to accomodate so many baskets being scored directly of passes. This one stands for a while.
Most Rebounds: Wilt Chamberlain (55)
I can't imagine this record being broken, simply because most teams don't grab 55 rebounds in total on a consistent basis. Today's game just doesn't provide the opportunity for one player to snare that many boards.
Single Game Records (Playoffs)
Most Points: Michael Jordan (63)
Easier to attain than Wilt's 100 during the regular season, but only two players have come close since MJ set the mark in 1986. Charles Barkley scored 56 points in 1994, while MJ himself also scored 56 in 1992. Allen Iverson dropped 55 in a game during the 2003 playoffs, but this record will probably stand a little while longer.
Most Steals: Allen Iverson (10)
AI is the only person to record double digits for steals in a playoff game. I'd say it can be broken or tied, but we'll see a lot of players coming up with 6, 7, or 8 steals before taking the honour from Iverson.
Most Blocks: Mark Eaton, Hakeem Olajuwon (10)
As with the steals record, there are players who could probably break or tie the record with an outstanding performance but I think the mark is safe for now.
Most Assists: Magic Johnson, John Stockton (24)
As with the regular season record, today's style of play doesn't make it easy for point guards to rack up so many assists.
Most Rebounds: Wilt Chamberlain (41)
Again, same as the regular season record. If NBA teams were averaging about 70 boards per game, we'd probably see more players with 20 and 30 rebounds performances along with the odd 40+ rebound games. As it is, Wilt's made this a very difficult mark to beat.
Those are the most straightforward records, career leaders and single game highs for the five major statistical categories. There are plenty of other records - most three pointers in a game (Kobe, 12), consecutive 50 points games (Wilt, 7) and so on. But I thought I'd leave those to everyone to look up before I comment on them.
So, which records do you think could be broken in the next few years or maybe by some of the young stars who are on the rise?
