- Seven players have reached the 50,000 minutes played mark.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 57,446 total minutes, the most in NBA history.
- Wilt Chamberlain has the record for most minutes played in an NBA season with 3,882.
Seven players have reached the 50,000 minutes played mark in league history.
These players racked up a ton of mileage on their legs while competing for short NBA odds of winning MVP awards and helping their teams boast even shorter championship basketball odds.
Let’s look at the players who have played the most minutes in NBA history as of Nov. 12, 2024.
Who Has Played the Most Minutes in NBA History?
| Rank | Player | Minutes Played |
| 1 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 57,446 |
| 2 | LeBron James | 56,945 |
| 3 | Karl Malone | 54,852 |
| 4 | Dirk Nowitzki | 51,368 |
| 5 | Kevin Garnett | 50,418 |
| 6 | Jason Kidd | 50,111 |
| 7 | Elvin Hayes | 50,000 |
| 8 | Kobe Bryant | 48,637 |
| 9 | Wilt Chamberlain | 47,859 |
| 10 | John Stockton | 47,764 |
| 11 | Reggie Miller | 47,619 |
| 12 | Tim Duncan | 47,368 |
| 13 | Gary Payton | 47,117 |
| 14 | John Havlicek | 46,471 |
| 15 | Vince Carter | 46,367 |
| 16 | Ray Allen | 46,344 |
| 17 | Paul Pierce | 45,880 |
| 18 | Robert Parish | 45,704 |
| 19 | Moses Malone | 45,071 |
| 20 | Joe Johnson | 44,236 |
| 21 | Hakeem Olajuwon | 44,222 |
| 22 | Oscar Robertson | 43,886 |
| 23 | Chris Paul | 43,599 |
| 24 | Carmelo Anthony | 43,514 |
| 25 | Clifford Robinson | 42,561 |
Most Minutes Played in NBA History
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has played the most minutes in NBA history with 57,446 across his 20-year career.
During the 1971-72 season with the Milwaukee Bucks, he logged a career-high 3,583 minutes, averaging a career-best 34.8 points, 16.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game while securing back-to-back MVPs.
The six-time MVP played 20 seasons in the NBA, spending his first six in the Brew City before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975.
The 19-time All-Star won his first championship alongside Oscar Robertson as a member of the Bucks in 1971, earning Finals MVP.
Abdul-Jabbar later joined forces with Magic Johnson and won five more championships with the Showtime Lakers, gaining another Finals MVP in 1985.
The two-time scoring champion held the NBA’s all-time scoring record for nearly 39 years.
Who Has the Record for Most Minutes Played in an NBA Season?
Wilt Chamberlain has the record for most minutes played in an NBA season with 3,882, which came during the 1961-62 season while he was a member of his hometown Philadelphia Warriors.
The four-time MVP set an NBA record by averaging 50.4 points per game that season and 25.7 rebounds, finishing second to Bill Russell in MVP voting.
The 7-foot-1 center also averaged an NBA-record 48.5 minutes per game because he was on the court for at least 48 minutes in 79 of his 80 games, logging more than 50 minutes in each of the seven games that went into overtime.
Chamberlain registered the NBA’s first and only 100-point game on March 2, 1962.
The 13-time All-Star holds the five highest single-season totals for minutes played in NBA history and seven of the top 10. His career average of 45.8 minutes per game is good for first all-time.