20 years ago today, NBA fans witnessed a performance that nobody will ever forget. That evening, Kobe Bryant treated the Toronto Raptors to an onslaught of jumpers, layups, dunks, and free throws for nearly 42 minutes, and by the time the game mercifully came to an end, he’d recorded 81 points, the second-most in NBA history and the most since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger.
No player has come particularly close to Bryant’s legendary performance since, with only Luka Dončić, Joel Embiid, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, and Devin Booker even topping 70 points in a game in the last decade. But the game has sped up dramatically: this season, teams are averaging 99.7 possessions per game, the third-highest average of the 21st Century, and superstar burden is as high as ever, with 15 of the top 18 single-season usage rates being recorded in the last 12 seasons. Bryant’s post-merger record is highly unlikely to fall tonight, but an 82-point game seems less unlikely than ever.
It might not be a coincidence that one of the five 70-point performances in the last decade came on the anniversary of Bryant’s game. Two years ago today, Embiid recorded 70 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs, scoring more points in the first half (34) than Bryant did in 2006 (26). In his post-game interview, Embiid said that he looked up to Bryant when he started playing basketball as a teenager in Cameroon and suggested that his opponent that night, Victor Wembanyama, could eventually break Bryant’s — and perhaps even Wilt Chamberlain’s — mark.
With Bryant’s scoring outburst being remembered league-wide tonight, it’s possible that several stars could chase the modern record. Here are three who could have a shot:
Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers at LA Clippers
It’d be fitting if Bryant’s mark was broken by another Laker, and it’s been widely assumed that if any player ever surpasses it, Dončić has the best shot. The Slovenian has as much in his scoring toolkit as Bryant had: he’s automatic around the basket, has soft touch on his midrange jumpers, and gets to the free throw line at will. He’s also a more potent three-point shooter than Bryant was. Dončić’s 38.1% usage rate this season is the seventh-highest single-season mark in NBA history, narrowly behind the 38.7% that Bryant posted in 2005-06, and his 60.8% true shooting percentage is higher than Bryant’s was that season. He has the highest expected point total tonight at DraftKings Sportsbook (31.5).
The Clippers’ defensive inconsistency could work in his favor. Though it finished with the league’s second-best defensive rating last season, LA has taken a massive step back this season, ranking just 22nd in defensive rating so far in 2025-26, and even in the last 16 games, in which the Clippers are 13-3, they’ve only rebounded to a good-but-not-elite ninth defensively. Across that span, they’ve still conceded an above-average number of shots at the rim, and Dončić has been the league’s best finisher this season. Plus, his 31.9-PPG career average against LA is his highest of any opponent he’s faced at least 10 times.
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Chicago Bulls
Edwards has more frequently been compared to Michael Jordan than to Bryant, but he’s always capable of big scoring performances whenever he desires, and he shares a tendency to perform in the clutch with both legendary shooting guards. He’s just five days removed from his career-high 55 point outburst, when he poured in bucket after bucket in his team’s loss against the Spurs, including 39 in the second half. His calling card is his efficiency, as his 62.9% true shooting percentage this season is 4.9 percentage points higher than Bryant ever posted, and he averages 1.5 more three-point attempts per game than Bryant ever did.
If he could score 55 against Wembanyama and San Antonio, he certainly can do better tonight against the Bulls, who have had the league’s eighth-worst defensive rating this season and, unlike the Clippers, haven’t picked it up as of late. Plus, because Chicago plays at the league’s fourth-fastest pace, it has given up the fifth-most points per game this season, and it has the offensive firepower to keep the score close and Edwards in the game. The Bulls have been especially liable to giving up shots at the rim, allowing the fifth-most per game this season, and Edwards has finished at a 72.5% clip, the second-best mark among the 28 guards to have attempted at least 150 restricted-area shots this season.
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz
Wembanyama wouldn’t be the natural first choice — in addition to Dončić and Edwards, Jamal Murray (27.5), Stephen Curry (26.5), and James Harden (26.5) each have higher projected point totals than his 25.5 — but given that Embiid explicitly suggested that he could be the next player to score 80-plus points, he has to be included. It’s not like Wembanyama would be a bad choice: since returning from a hyperextended knee nine games ago, he’s averaging 24.6 points in just 26.3 minutes per game on 47-40-85 shooting splits, and among players who have played at least 30 games, he ranks sixth in points per minute. It all depends on how willing Mitch Johnson will be to keep him in the game.
For their part, the Jazz will do their best to help Wembanyama score. While Utah has been surprisingly competitive this season overall, it has allowed 127.4 points per game, 3.8 more than any other team. The Jazz have been particularly bad against opposing centers, conceding a 74.3% conversion rate in the restricted area to go along with the 11th-most points in the paint and the fifth-most second-chance points. Utah also allows more wide-open threes than any other team, and Wembanyama has made 38.1% of his uncontested triples in the last nine games.
