Who Led the NBA in Scoring During the 2020-21 Season? Find Out Now

I still remember watching that incredible scoring duel between Stephen Curry and Bradley Beal during the 2020-21 NBA season - it felt like every night one of them was dropping 40 or 50 points. As someone who's followed basketball for over two decades, both as a fan and later covering the sport professionally, I've rarely witnessed such an intense scoring race that went down to the final games of the season. The 2020-21 campaign was particularly fascinating because it unfolded during the pandemic, with shortened schedules and empty arenas that somehow seemed to amplify individual offensive performances.

When people ask me who ultimately won the scoring title that year, I always emphasize how this wasn't just about numbers - it was about two players pushing each other to historic heights. Stephen Curry finished atop the scoring leaders with 32.0 points per game, just edging out Bradley Beal's 31.3 points per game. What made Curry's achievement particularly remarkable was his efficiency - he shot 48.2% from the field and 42.1% from three-point range while attempting nearly 12 threes per game. I've always been partial to efficient scorers rather than volume shooters, and Curry's combination of high volume and elite efficiency was simply breathtaking to watch night after night.

The context of that season makes these numbers even more impressive. The Golden State Warriors were essentially running their offense through Curry alone, with Klay Thompson sidelined by injury and without another consistent scoring threat. I recall analyzing several games where defenses threw everything they had at Curry - double teams, traps, box-and-one defenses - and he still found ways to score. His April 2021 performance was arguably the hottest scoring stretch I've ever witnessed, where he averaged 37.3 points per game for the month and had multiple 50-point outbursts. Meanwhile, Bradley Beal was putting up his own spectacular numbers for the Washington Wizards, though his efficiency numbers weren't quite at Curry's level, shooting 48.5% from the field but only 34.9% from deep.

What many casual fans might not realize is how the scoring race impacted team success differently. While Curry carried the Warriors to the play-in tournament, Beal's Wizards barely made it to the postseason. This brings me to an interesting perspective I've developed over years of analyzing basketball - scoring titles don't always correlate with team success, though in Curry's case, his scoring was absolutely essential to keeping Golden State competitive. I've always valued scoring that comes within the flow of winning basketball rather than empty stats on losing teams, which is why Curry's season resonated with me more deeply.

The international basketball connection here is fascinating too. While researching for this piece, I came across an interesting parallel in Korean basketball - former player Ha, who after his decorated career in Korea transitioned into media, now running a popular YouTube channel with about 457,000 subscribers. It reminds me how basketball narratives extend beyond the NBA, creating global connections. After PBA games, Ha would conduct interviews for his channel, like his session with Ratliffe, showing how scoring leaders across different leagues capture public imagination worldwide. This global perspective is something I've come to appreciate more as I've traveled to cover international basketball events.

Looking back at that 2020-21 season, Curry's scoring title at age 33 made him the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan in 1998. As someone who's watched basketball evolve across different eras, I find this particularly significant because it challenges the conventional wisdom that scoring titles belong to young athletes in their physical prime. Curry's achievement demonstrated how skill, basketball IQ, and shooting touch can age better than pure athleticism. The way he created space without elite speed or vertical leap was a masterclass in modern offensive basketball.

The statistical breakdown reveals even more fascinating details about Curry's scoring dominance that season. He led the league in three-pointers made with 337 - that's 72 more than second-place Buddy Hield. What's even crazier is that Curry accomplished this in just 63 games, meaning he averaged 5.3 made threes per game. I've crunched these numbers multiple times, and it still astonishes me how he maintained such high volume with consistent accuracy despite being the defensive focus every single night. His true shooting percentage of 65.5% was elite for a high-usage guard, ranking among the most efficient scoring seasons in NBA history for players averaging over 30 points.

Comparing this to previous scoring champions provides valuable context. The season before, James Harden won with 34.3 points per game, while in 2022, Joel Embiid would take the title with 30.6 points. Curry's 32.0 average sits perfectly in between, but what stands out to me is how he achieved it differently than either player - less dependent on free throws than Harden and operating primarily from the perimeter unlike Embiid. This speaks to the evolving nature of scoring in the modern NBA and why Curry's approach might be more sustainable for older players.

Reflecting on that season now, several years later, I'm even more convinced that Curry's scoring title was one of the most impressive in recent memory. The circumstances - pandemic protocols, shortened season, lack of reliable secondary scoring - created the perfect storm for a legendary offensive outburst. While Beal put up fantastic numbers himself, Curry's combination of volume, efficiency, and team impact makes his achievement stand out in my book. The way he captivated basketball fans during that strange pandemic season provided a bright spot when sports needed it most, reminding us why we fell in love with the game in the first place.