NBA: Ranking players with most total minutes played (regular season)
21 Dec 2024

LeBron James has cemented his legacy by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leader in total minutes played.

Notably, James broke Abdul-Jabbar's long standing record set in 1989.

Additionally, this is the second crucial NBA record that James has broken in the recent past.

Meanwhile, here are the top five players with the most total minutes played in NBA history.

Lebron James - Los Angeles Lakers
#1

The NBA's all-time regular season scoring leader has surpassed Abdul-Jabbar in total minutes played.

James surpassed Abdul-Jabbar with 34 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers' 113-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

While logging his 57,447th minute, James broke Abdul-Jabbar's long-slong-35-year old record.

Notably, James has played 1,517 games, whilst starting 1,515 of them, and is the only active player in top five currently.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Los Angeles Lakers
#2

The Lakers legend became the all-time leader in regular season total minutes played after logging in 57,446 minutes.

Abdul-Jabbar played a total of 1,560 games (second all-time in NBA history).

He retired in 1989 with the most minutes played, most points scored, and several other records.

Notably, he is one of the two players to have crossed the 55k minutes mark, just behind James.

Karl Malone - Utah Jazz
#3

The Jazz legend is one of the four NBA players to have crossed the 51k total minutes mark, and stands third on this list.

Malone played in the NBA regular season for 19 years and clocked in 54,852 minutes, while he played 18 seasons for the Jazz and one season with the Lakers.

Overall, Malone has played 1,476 games and has started 1,471.

Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Mavericks
#4

The Mavericks legend stands fourth on this list with 51,368 minutes clocked in across 21 years of his NBA career.

He is also one of the four players in league history to cross the 51k minutes mark. Meanwhile, he has played 1,522 games whilst starting 1,460 of them.

Notably, he spent his entire 21-year career with the Dallas Mavericks, winning their only championship.

Kevin Garnett - Minnesota Timberwolves
#5

The Timberwolves legend who played till 2015-16 rounds out the top five.

Having played 1,462 games and having started 1,425 of them, he has clocked in 50,418 minutes in the NBA.

Overall, Garnett mostly played for the Timberwolves after being picked up in the 1995-96 NBA draft.

He then played for the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets across his 21-year NBA career.