Throughout the NBA's longstanding history, nobody has come close to Wilt Chamberlain's record for most points in a single game, which he set at 100. In fact, the closest any player has ever gotten was when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors back in 2006, with a handful of other players scoring 70 points along the way.

The record is so impressive that some fans think it may just be unbreakable. While it's impossible to change the past, if these three games had gone slightly different, there would've been a good chance for someone else to join Chamberlain in the 100-point club.

Kobe Bryant

Lakers pay respect to "The Black Mamba," Kobe Bryant

As impressive as Bryant's 81-point game was back in 2006, that actually wasn't his best shot at beating Chamberlain's record. Bryant's best shot came a month earlier on December 20th, 2005, against the Dallas Mavericks. At halftime, the Lakers only had a nine-point lead, with Bryant already scoring 32 points on 61 percent shooting from the field.

In the third quarter, whatever the Mavs did on defense still didn't work. Bryant would score 30 points in the quarter, but since the Lakers were up by 34 heading into the fourth quarter, Phil Jackson benched Bryant for the rest of the game. One of Bryant's former teammates even started a conspiracy theory that Jackson benching Bryant wasn't to prevent him from getting injured, but because some records “need to stand.”

Klay Thompson

Warriors' Klay Thompson passes Vince Carter on all-time 3-point list

Back on December 5th, 2016, Klay Thompson also matched Bryant by scoring 60 points in three quarters against the Indiana Pacers. Thompson did it while only taking 11 dribbles and playing less than 30 minutes. Could you imagine if he played close to 40 minutes?

In this game, Thompson averaged 2.07 points per minute, making him the first player in history to be on the same scoring pace as Chamberlain was when he scored 100 points. However, since the Warriors were up by more than 30 points heading into the fourth, Thompson sat out the last 1:22 of the third and the entire fourth quarter.

If the game was actually close, Thompson would've had a legitimate chance to reach 100 points. Aside from primarily shooting three-pointers, Thompson was playing alongside two of the best offensive players of this generation in Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, which meant it would've been hard for the Pacers to throw double teams at him down the stretch.

Damian Lillard

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Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) sits on the bench during action against the Sacramento Kings in the fourth quarter during a play-in game of the 2024 NBA playoffs at the Golden 1 Center.

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Damian Lillard alongside Doc Rivers with the Bucks and Pacers logos in the background, injury

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Bucks star Damian Lillard with medical kit in front of him

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Bucks' Damian Lillard gets a standing ovation from the Trail Blazers crowd, Giannis Antetokounmpo stands in the background

Unlike Bryant and Thompson, Damian Lillard's chance to score 100 points happened in a game where he had to play in the fourth quarter. On February 26th, 2023, Lillard dropped 71 points against the Houston Rockets while shooting 57.9 percent from the field.

While he did have to force up a couple of shots in the end to eclipse 70 points, Lillard was pretty passive during the first and third quarters. He even said on JJ Redick's podcast that he could've at least scored 90 points that game if he really wanted to.

“After the game, everyone was like, ‘oh my God, you had 71 points,' and I was like ‘I really should have had 90 tonight,'” Lillard told Redick.