Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, 30, became the sixth-youngest player in NBA history to score 21,000 career points during Saturday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, but, to hear him tell it, this is just the beginning.

“First of all, we have to talk about who those guys are because I just saw those guys,” he told reporters Saturday when discussing his place in history (seven-minute mark). “Talk about Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kevin Durant. I think it’s the GOATs of the GOATs. And I don’t think anybody disagrees in this room. I don’t think anybody in this world disagrees; just to be in that list with them is incredible. Have I accomplished as much as them? I don’t think so. Do I have a lot of room to improve and room to grow in years to keep on writing my own legacy? Yes.

“And I think getting to the top of the scoring list is not six, seven, or eight years away. I think it’s in my opinion I think it’s four years away, four, five years away, four and a half years away I think when we are going to be 35 years old and sitting this year going to have a discussion of I am in the top list of all time in scoring and I would have that into existence and not just into existence because I believe that I’m going to do it, it’s something that I want to do… But hey, again that’s too far away. Four, five years from now, I might have four other kids [laughter]. I don’t know if my wife might have left me. Who knows, maybe four, five years from now, four, five years before this, I had zero. I didn’t have kids, and I have kids now. So I just have to worry about Monday against Washington and stay healthy.”

Antetokounmpo’s 21,002 career points puts him 42nd in NBA history and a full 21,248 behind James’ all-time mark of 42,250. James is also still an active player for the Los Angeles Lakers, so that scoring record is going to grow until the King finally decides to retire.

That the Bucks star has so much self-belief is anything but surprising considering he is one of the best players in the NBA and a generational talent, but he would still be short of James even if he doubled his career point total.

If Antetokounmpo averaged 30 points per game for the next 700 games, he would add another 21,000 points to his resume. And it would take more than 8.5 seasons of him appearing in all 82 games to play another 700 games.

In other words, he almost assuredly isn’t going to be on top of the scoring list within four or five years.

Still, he will only continue to climb the list and surpass some of the all-time greats if he remains healthy and as productive as he has been in recent seasons.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.9 points per game in 2025-26 and is striving to average better than 30 points a night for the fourth consecutive season. He has also finished in the top five in MVP voting in each of the last seven campaigns, including when he won the award in back-to-back years in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The future Hall of Famer is an all-time great and will continue to bolster an already illustrious resume.

But he has a long way to go to catch James’ scoring record.