Who Has the Most Blocks In NBA History?

Officially, Hakeem Olajuwon leads the NBA’s all-time list with 3,830 career blocks. 

Dikembe Mutombo (3,289) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3,189) are second and third in the official record book, respectively. 

However, there’s a historical oddity that haunts this list. Abdul-Jabbar entered the NBA for the 1969-70 season and played until 1989. 

Over the course of his career, he averaged 2.6 blocks per game. But from 1973-80, when Abdul-Jabbar was one of the NBA’s most dominant players, he averaged more than three blocks per game. 

That includes four different seasons (1973-74, 1974-75, 1978-79, 1979-80) where he led the NBA in blocks. 

But blocks were only introduced as an official NBA stat in 1973-74, which was Abdul-Jabbar’s fifth season. He spent the first four seasons of his career blocking shots, but receiving no official credit.

Abdul-Jabbar was one of the top shot-blockers in the league immediately upon entering the NBA, as old videos can confirm. But even if we only assume he met his career average of 2.6 blocks per game, he would have earned more than 800 additional blocks in just the 321 regular season games he played from 1969-73. 

That’s not factoring in that he likely blocked shots at a higher rate during the early portion of his athletic prime. That’s also not factoring in any playoff games, which he certainly played in. Abdul-Jabbar won the NBA championship with Milwaukee in 1971. 

Just those expected 800+ blocks from his first four regular seasons would close the gap and leave Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s career leader for blocks. 

And that’s to say nothing of even older players like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain – both of whom certainly blocked a great number of shots in their time. 

Of course, no one can really count unofficial stats as part of an official examination of the record book. That means Olajuwon is the all-time statistical blocks leader, and he will surely remain that for many years to come. 

But the nature of the block statistic, and the timing of its introduction, remain a fascinating wrinkle for basketball historians and statheads. 

Most Blocks In NBA History