Former Minnesota Timberwolves lottery pick Rashad McCants certainly made a bold claim on the “Out the Mud” podcast. The Timberwolves alum claimed that he could have tied Kobe Bryant’s career high of 81 points, the second-highest scoring output by a player, behind Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 100.
The Timberwolves selected McCants as the 14th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, and he played in the league for five years. The most points he ever scored in a single game was 34, and he was never close to making an All-Star game. Among those who took issue with McCants’ claim is Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young.
Young’s response to McCants’ words was a simple “Wtf” with a laugh and shocked emojis, implying that he believes McCants’ sentiment was ridiculous. That’s because it is. Not even the best scorers who have come after Bryant have approached that total, though some have come within striking distance.
Luka Doncic scored 73 points last season, while Joel Embiid scored 70 that same year. Devin Booker did the same in 2017. The most Young has scored in a single game is 56, and that was back in 2022.
McCants never approached the level of scoring that the players mentioned above have, and if he really could have matched Bryant’s 81 points, he would have lasted in the NBA for much longer than half a decade. The Timberwolves alum was not a bad scorer, as the most points he averaged over a season was 14.9, but he was never close to Bryant as a scorer. Nor was he close to Young, for that matter.
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