With a pair of 20-foot jump shots in the first quarter of Monday's game against the visiting New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki passed Wilt Chamberlain for No. 6 on the league's all-time scoring leaderboard.
Nowitzki entered the game with 31,416 career points, trailing Chamberlain by three.
The 40-year-old scored his record-breaking bucket at the 8:35 mark, sizing up the Pelicans' Kenrich Williams before pulling up with a mid-range shot over the 6-foot-7 forward.
Here's how the leaderboard looks after Monday's game:
Rank | Player | Points |
---|---|---|
1. | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 38 387 |
2. | Karl Malone | 36 928 |
3. | Kobe Bryant | 33 643 |
4. | LeBron James* | 32 439 |
5. | Michael Jordan | 32 292 |
6. | Dirk Nowitzki* | 31 424 |
7. | Wilt Chamberlain | 31 419 |
8. | Shaquille O'Neal | 28 596 |
9. | Moses Malone | 27 409 |
10. | Elvin Hayes | 27 313 |
* Still active
Though he hasn't officially announced whether he will retire at the end of his 21st season, the future Hall of Famer entered Monday night's game averaging a career-low six points in just under 14 minutes per contest.