Bob Pettit

Bob Pettit was the first player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points — a milestone he reached in an era when the statistical framework for measuring individual achievement was still being established, without the three-point line to inflate scoring accumulations. His career average of 26.4 points per game is among the highest in league history, produced across 11 seasons against the defenses of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Pettit's 1958 championship with the St. Louis Hawks — the only title the franchise has won in its history — came with his best Finals performance: 50 points in Game 6 to close out the Boston Celtics in a series that went the full seven games. That 50-point performance, before the individual scoring ceiling had been clearly established in the public imagination, remains one of the most significant individual postseason outputs in the sport's early history. He was the player who finally beat the dynasty; his performance in that game made the achievement possible.

He won two MVP awards (1956, 1959) and was selected to 11 All-Star Games across a career that ended at age 32 due to injury complications — a relatively early retirement from a player who might otherwise have accumulated statistical totals that would be even more remarkable. His per-game scoring average, even at the time of his retirement, placed him in the all-time top tier.

Pettit attended LSU before St. Louis selected him in the 1954 draft. He became the defining player of a franchise that has since moved twice and currently operates as the Atlanta Hawks.