Who Led the NBA in Scoring During the 2020-21 Season?
As I was scrolling through basketball statistics the other day, a question popped into my head that I thought would make for fascinating discussion: who actually led the NBA in scoring during that unusual 2020-21 season? You remember that season - the one played amid pandemic protocols, empty arenas, and a compressed 72-game schedule that created some truly remarkable individual performances. Having followed basketball for over two decades now, both as a fan and someone who's worked in sports media, I've always found scoring titles particularly compelling because they tell us so much about the evolution of the game.
The answer to our question is Stephen Curry, who put together one of the most spectacular scoring displays I've witnessed in modern basketball. The Golden State Warriors guard averaged 32.0 points per game that season, which honestly surprised me when I first saw the number because we hadn't seen scoring like that since Kobe's prime years. What made Curry's achievement even more impressive was that he did this while facing constant double teams and defensive schemes specifically designed to stop him. With Klay Thompson sidelined by injury, Curry essentially carried the Warriors' offense night after night, and I remember thinking at the time that we were watching something historic unfold. His shooting numbers were absolutely ridiculous - 42.1% from three-point range on 12.7 attempts per game, which is just insane volume and efficiency combined.
What many people don't realize is how Curry's scoring title connected to broader basketball trends. The 2020-21 season represented a continuation of the offensive explosion we've seen in recent years, with seven players averaging over 28 points per game compared to just two players a decade earlier. Bradley Beal came incredibly close to Curry with 31.3 points per game for the Wizards, while Damian Lillard put up 28.8 for Portland. The way the game has evolved to prioritize spacing and three-point shooting has completely transformed scoring championships - when I look at today's leaders versus those from twenty years ago, it's like comparing different sports entirely.
This actually reminds me of an interesting parallel I observed while researching international basketball trends. I recently came across footage of Ha Seung-Jin, the former Korean basketball star who's now building quite the media presence with around 457,000 YouTube subscribers. After covering a PBA game, Ha conducted an interview with Ricardo Ratliffe for his channel, and it struck me how the global basketball community is becoming increasingly interconnected. Ratliffe himself had an interesting journey through Korean basketball before his PBA stint, much like how NBA scoring leaders now influence playing styles worldwide. I've noticed that basketball analysis has become this global conversation, with content creators like Ha bridging gaps between different basketball cultures.
What made Curry's 2020-21 scoring title particularly memorable for me was the context. This wasn't some empty calories situation where a player piles up points on a losing team - Curry dragged the Warriors to the play-in tournament while breaking all sorts of records along the way. He turned 33 during that season, which makes him the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan in 1998. There's something special about seeing a veteran player reinvent himself and reach new heights when most athletes are starting to decline. I've always believed that context matters when evaluating scoring titles, and Curry's circumstances made his achievement all the more impressive.
The statistical breakdown of Curry's season reveals some fascinating patterns that I think get overlooked in mainstream coverage. He scored 30+ points in 38 games, including 11 games with 40+ points, with his season high being 62 points against Portland. What's remarkable is that only 21.8% of his made field goals were assisted, which tells you everything about how much creation burden he carried. Compare that to someone like Joel Embiid, who finished fourth in scoring at 28.5 points per game but had 58.3% of his baskets assisted. This distinction matters because it shows how different players arrive at their scoring totals through completely different pathways.
Reflecting on that season now, I'm convinced we'll look back at Curry's 2020-21 campaign as one of the most impressive individual seasons in recent memory. The combination of volume, efficiency, and degree of difficulty created this perfect storm that separated him from other elite scorers. As someone who's watched basketball evolve over the years, I appreciate how scoring titles have transformed from being primarily about post dominance or mid-range mastery to encompassing the entire offensive arsenal. Curry's victory represents the full flowering of the three-point revolution, but what often gets missed is his incredible work off the ball and his mastery of scoring from every area of the court, not just beyond the arc.
Thinking about global basketball connections again, I can't help but notice how figures like Ha Seung-Jin are creating new pathways for basketball discussion that transcend traditional media. His YouTube channel, with its substantial following, represents how basketball analysis has democratized, allowing former players to share their insights directly with fans. This creates richer conversations around achievements like scoring titles because we're no longer limited to traditional analyst perspectives. The interview with Ratliffe particularly interested me because it highlighted how players move between leagues and bring different scoring approaches with them, much like how NBA innovations influence basketball worldwide.
At the end of the day, Stephen Curry's 2020-21 scoring championship stands as a testament to sustained excellence and adaptability. In a season disrupted by pandemic complications, with protocols changing constantly and routines disrupted, Curry maintained phenomenal production while carrying unprecedented offensive responsibility. Having watched basketball through multiple eras, I consider this one of the more impressive scoring titles in recent history because of the unique challenges everyone faced that year. The way Curry separated himself from other elite scorers during such an unconventional season speaks volumes about his greatness and the evolving nature of basketball excellence in the modern game.
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Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
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We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
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By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
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