Published on November 19, 2024 at 11:53 p.m.
During the Los Angeles Clippers’ victory against Golden State on Tuesday, Nicolas Batum became the second Frenchman, after Tony Parker, to cross the mark of 11,000 points scored in the NBA.
It’s a symbolic milestone, but one that proves the longevity of Nicolas Batum in the biggest League in the world. This Tuesday, during the Los Angeles Clippers’ 102-99 victory against Golden State at the Intuit Dome, Nicolas Batum scored 9 points (thanks to three three-pointers) and thus became the second French player in history to cross the 11,000 point mark in the NBA regular season. The former Le Mans player now has 11,001 points in 1068 games and 17 seasons across the Atlantic. The other Frenchman to have scored 11,000 points is obviously Tony Parker, who scored 19,467 in 1,253 games and 18 seasons (in San Antonio and Charlotte). Nicolas Batum is well ahead of Rudy Gobert (9744pts with Utah and Minnesota), Evan Fournier (9607 with Denver, Orlando, Boston, New and Detroit) and Boris Diaw (9139 with Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte, San Antonio and Utah).
Gobert will soon join the duo…while waiting for Wembanyama?
This summer, Nicolas Batum signed a two-year contract with the Clippers, and he has already assured that he will retire at the end of the 2025-26 season, at 37 years old. In total, he will have scored 5,390 points in the Portland jersey (2008-15), 3,728 with Charlotte (2015-20), 1,571 with the Clippers and 312 with Philadelphia. While he averages 3.6 points this season, he could finish the 2024-25 financial year with 11,242 points on the clock, and his career with 11,537 points if he continues at this pace and plays all the matches. . There is no doubt that the Parker-Batum duo will soon be joined by Rudy Gobert in the clan of French players with 11,000 points (next season, barring injury). In the meantime, most certainly, Victor Wembanyama in the medium term. If he continues at the pace of his first season, where he scored 1,522 points, the French prodigy will pass the 11,000 points mark in seven years! But he would still be very far from the record for points scored in the regular season, held (and undoubtedly for a long time), by LeBron James and his 40,777 points. A figure that will continue to increase at least until June 2026, the date of the end of his contract with the Lakers… Dizzying!
