The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America comprising 30 franchises, of which 29 are located in the United States and one in Canada (Toronto Raptors). The player with the highest number of minutes on the court is the four-time NBA champion LeBron James, with close to 60,000 regular season minutes played.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – one of the greats
Born on April 16, 1947 in New York, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is considered one of the best players in NBA history. During his 20 seasons in the league, he won one league title with the Milwaukee Bucks, followed by six with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also awarded a record six NBA Most Valuable Player titles and picked up two NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the holder of one of the most important records in the NBA, that of the number of total points scored in his career - 38,387. He has held this title from April 5, 1984, when he surpassed the previous record established by Wilt Chamberlain; the record was subsequently broken by LeBron James in February 2023. Abdul-Jabbar also sits in third place for the number of successful points in the playoffs. His total of 5,762 points was beaten in June 1998 by Michael Jordan in the Eastern Conference final, and again in May 2017 by LeBron James. During his career with the Milwaukee Bucks, Abdul-Jabbar became the team’s all-time rebounds leader with a total of 7,161 rebounds. He also held the third-highest number of rebounds in NBA history, with a total of 13,641 rebounds to his name as of April 2025.
The crowning of a new king
With the most number of minutes under his belt, as well as holding the all-time scoring records in the regular season and playoffs, LeBron James is considered a contender for the title of "greatest of all time". James established himself as a legend for the Cleveland Cavaliers, playing a total of 11 seasons for the franchise across two spells. Despite plying his trade for the Los Angeles Lakers since 2018, James leads the way in many important statistical categories for the Cavaliers, including points, assists, rebounds, steals, and games played.