James Harden edges past Carmelo Anthony in NBA all-time points ranking

In a week when Kevin Durant made history, breaching the 31,000-point mark, James Harden also made history by becoming one of the 10 top scorers in NBA history.

Harden entered Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves needing 21 points to edge past the 28,289 points accumulated by Carmelo Anthony between 2003 and 2022.

Free throw takes Harden past Carmelo

The Clippers led 56-42 at the end of the first half with Harden on 19. Two free throws midway through the third quarter took him past Anthony. Harden finished the game with 34 points, leading the scoring ahead of Kawhi Leonard on 20 and Ivica Zubac on 15. It wasn’t enough to avoid defeat - the team’s seventh in eight games.

The only positive, at least for Harden, was that he brought his career total to 28,303 points and break into the all-time top 10 ranking.

“Blessing. A testament to the work I’ve put in,” he told reporters. “It’s an honor, especially with somebody like ‘Melo’, who’s done so much greatness for this league.

“You look at that list, it’s like there’s no way. There’s no way I got an opportunity to be a part of this list. It’s just literally like a dream come true. The work that I literally put in is coming to fruition. There’s so many things that this game has done for me, and I’m sure for all those guys as well. And those names are still being talked about post basketball.”

Just three players in the top 10 remain active - LeBron James (42,268), Kevin Durant (31,051) and Harden, who has Shaquille O’Neal (28,596) in sight - The Beard trails Shaq by just 293 points.

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