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Joel Embiid Passes LeBron James as Season NBA Scoring Leader
The chase for the NBA scoring title is on as the regular season nears its end.
On Tuesday night, Joel Embiid scored 45 points against the Pacers to surpass LeBron James as the league’s leading scorer.
Embiid currently averages 30.424 points per game, while James now sits in second place with 30.268 points per game. Giannis Antetokounmpo is in the third spot 30.078 points per game. Embiid raised his average by 0.2 after his Tuesday performance.
Joel Embiid has taken the lead in the NBA's scoring title race 👀 pic.twitter.com/w8veHot9ce
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 6, 2022
Embiid’s 45 points were his second-highest output of the season. He scored 50 points on Jan. 19 against the Magic.
The last center to win the scoring title was Shaquille O’Neal back in 2000. Embiid is now on track to end that drought this year as he battles for MVP honors with reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, a two-time MVP in Antetokounmpo and others. He would be the first center with at least a 30-point average since the NBA merger, according to StatMuse.
Joel Embiid currently leads the league in scoring with 30.4 PPG.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 6, 2022
If he keeps it up, he would be the first center since Shaq and the first international born player to win the scoring title.
He would have the first 30-PPG season by a center since the NBA merger. pic.twitter.com/pGem5sVNii
James has missed four of the last six games, and he will need to play in at least two more games to qualify for the scoring title. Since James didn’t play in Tuesday night’s Lakers game, he will need to play in two of the last three games on their schedule before their regular season ends on April 10.
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The Sixers currently sit in third place in the Eastern Conference standings.
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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.