Missed shot leaders in the NBA

It's widely known that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the all-time leading scorer in the NBA, and LeBron stands a good chance of passing him when all is said and done.

What I've never seen before, is who is the all-time missed shots scoring leader? As in, who has missed the most points worth of shooting?

Missed Scored Net
1Kobe Bryant34,31433,643-671
2LeBron James31,56634,9853,419
3Dirk Nowitzki29,35731,5602,203
4Elvin Hayes29,26427,313-1,951
5Vince Carter29,20025,728-3,472
6Karl Malone28,99036,9287,938
7John Havlicek28,05426,395-1,659
8Carmelo Anthony27,89726,794-1,103
9Kareem Abdul-Jabbar27,54938,38710,838
10Wilt Chamberlain27,43731,4193,982
11Michael Jordan27,33232,2924,960
12Allen Iverson26,99524,368-2,627
13Paul Pierce26,92726,397-530
14Dominique Wilkins26,17926,668489
15Ray Allen25,75424,505-1,249
16Julius Erving25,21530,0264,811
17Elgin Baylor24,58423,149-1,435
18Rick Barry24,27725,2791,002
19Jamal Crawford24,18019,419-4,761
20Moses Malone23,86729,5805,713

Through the beginning of this season, LeBron is averaging 1,815 missed points per year. At that rate, he will pass Kobe next season.

Active players in the top 50:

Missed Scored Net
2LeBron James31,56634,9853,419
30Russell Westbrook22,56020,759-1,801
43James Harden21,14621,549403
50Kevin Durant19,83123,4913,660

Surprises

I would have guessed that Kareem was the leader - it takes so many field goal attempts to score that many, you're going to have a lot of missed shots too. But not having taken a lot of 3-pointers really bails him out. They're lower-percentage shots, and worth more, so you're in double jeopardy if you take a lot of threes.

Missed-shot-Kobe would be 4th on the regular scoring list.

I was surprised with how many guys were underwater: 23 out of the top 50. Since the NBA/ABA merger, the player deepest in the hole is #23 Jason Kidd, at -5,711.

Kareem is the leader in net score, and it seems unlikely anyone is going to catch him, at least without the game changing dramatically - say, different three point rules.

Information courtesy Basketball-Reference.com. Stats reflect games played through February 17, 2021.