In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws or field goals. The National Basketball Association's (NBA) scoring title is awarded to the player with the highest points per game average in a given season. The scoring title was originally determined by total points scored through the 1968–69 season, after which points per game was used to determine the leader instead. Players who earned scoring titles before the 1979–80 season did not record any three-point field goals because the three-point line was first implemented in the NBA during that season. To qualify for the scoring title, the player must appear in at least 70 games (out of 82) or have at least 1,400 points. These have been the entry criteria since the 1974–75 season.
Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time records for total points scored (4,029) and points per game (50.4) in a season; both records were achieved in the 1961–62 season. He also holds the rookie records for points per game when he averaged 37.6 points in the 1959–60 season. Among active players, Kevin Durant has the highest point total (2,593) and the highest scoring average (32.0) in a season; both were achieved in the 2013–14 season.
Michael Jordan has won the most scoring titles, with ten. Jordan and Chamberlain are the only players to have won seven consecutive scoring titles (this was also Chamberlain's career total).George Gervin, Allen Iverson and Durant have won four scoring titles in their career, and George Mikan, Neil Johnston and Bob McAdoo have achieved it three times. Paul Arizin, Bob Pettit, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant have each won the scoring title twice. Since the 1946–47 season, five players have won both the scoring title and the NBA championship in the same season: Fulks in 1947 with the Philadelphia Warriors, Mikan from 1949 to 1950 with the Minneapolis Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar (then Alcindor) in 1971 with the Milwaukee Bucks, Jordan from 1991 to 1993 and from 1996 to 1998 with the Chicago Bulls, and O'Neal in 2000 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Since the introduction of the three-point field goal, O'Neal is the only scoring leader to have made no three-point field goals in his winning season.