[Analysis] NBA Stat Leaders by NBA Recap
When did post ups/drives become a league leader stat that people mention lmao
especially post-ups which are rare even for jokic
you know why it became one
Because people will do anything if Jokic can lead that category.
Um wasnt Anthony Edwards the leader in 3PM last year?
This is a per game thing. Except VORP, which is literally the cumulative version of a per 100 possessions stat (BPM).
I’m also not sure if they have a particular game minimum here, for example Embiid led per in 2024… but only played 39 games, so not even half the season.
Didn’t Luka lead the league a couple years ago though? 34ppg
Ah. See there’s the game minimum I was referencing. Yeah I believe luka was the official scoring champ and averaged like 33.9, but that was the season Embiid played 39 games and through those 39 he averaged like 35. So according to this chart, Embiid led scoring.
I think he’s doing these stats per game.
Yeah, Steph was behind ant and Malik Beasley
Shout out Russ again
Kinda surprised Shai isn’t showing up in more of these categories. Also feels like Jokic has a really strong MVP case again if he stays healthy.
I’ve always seen him as a player that kinda doesn’t lead anything but does everything well with great efficiency. Obv scoring title last year but I think if Luka was healthy he could have potentially have gotten it too since he shoots more than shai. I’d imagine in future years other players who shoot more like Maxey will also be above in ppg.
Shais more just solid at everything (with the 3 being his prior weakness) and more importantly is just crazy efficient. he always keeps the score ticking for the thunder even if it doesn’t explode as other players such as first quarter Luka can for example. He rarely is the reason for why another team will go on runs due to low TOs. He’s an easy get out of jail free card for the thunder.
The “my whole life is consistent” gets memes but it’s very true about him. He just feels like a very safe player that will rarely let you down. That’s just my 2 cents tho lol
Getting high on the leaderboards is one thing, but leading a stat requires a lot to go well, it’s just not something you can do be getting better.
Like LeBron’s highest scoring season is in the dead ball era, his scoring title is two years later. In 2015 he averages only 25 PPG, but he averages 38 in the Finals against the #1 defense. Steph is another one, in 2015 he wins MVP with <24 PPG, it’s only for an 8-seed in 2021 that he gets his scoring title.
LeBron is on there twice I believe.
Interesting graphic but absence of a player doesn’t mean a ton.
Shai has a team where he doesn’t need to play that many minutes, I’m sure if Shai had a worse team he would have more stats
ive been reading this all season but shai plays 33mpg. jokic is at 35. luka 36. its not that crazy of a gap. giannis and wemby at 29 each cuz of injuries. i dont think thats a significant minutes difference between the top guys
Sort of how you look it. I see 6 more minutes and think that’s 20% more minutes if comparing Giannis to Luka for instance. I would say that’s not insignificant and quite relevant to the discussion over the course of a season.
If OKC wasn’t being conservative with him SGA is definitely playing a lot more minutes and that impacts his counting stats.
Regardless SGA isn’t on these leaderboards because he’s relatively young still and only been playing at this level last 3 or so years. Will be interesting if he can maintain his play level like some of the elites on here (Jokic/Steph/Harden etc.)
The gap has been closing because of injuries but he was waaay below in mpg
He really has 3 he could possibly lead on this board
He could lead VORP (cumulative stat) and likely will after the thunder play today, although Jokic is much higher in the per possession version (BPM) but currently has a lot less time. By the end of the season I expect Jokic will be comfortably leading that once he comes back.
He could lead drives, but avdija averages 2 more drives (20.3 over 18.3) in 1.9 more minutes a game (35.3 over 33.4) and neither of them average near a drive a minute so if we are assuming they play the same amount he wouldn’t lead that either.
His most likely appearance on this board this season is that he could reasonably lead points over Luka if he played a little more (he averages more per 36).
Yeah that’s fair. OKC has so much on-ball creation that Shai doesn’t have to carry everything every night, especially now with guys like Ajay Mitchell stepping in. Even with injuries they’re still deep, which probably caps some of his raw stats.
I think more than anything he’s just so efficient at scoring that he’s always going to be a score first guard. That just caps his assist numbers a fair bit. When him shooting is going to be the best play for the team a lot of time.
Alternatively he would have less wins which matters only for MVP, but in terms of stats, he would have more fatigue having to play more minutes, resulting in worse efficiencies and stats, more turnovers, more injuries or at least soreness and just fatigue, and not having a perfectly built team especially defensively would increase his defensive work load, and offensively he would not have the schemes that allow him to get to his spots within the midrange. Hartenstein for example helps his game a lot, we watched him have some of his worst games this season without him, that’s just 1 good role player.
So who knows I guess, maybe he’d do better
Where are you getting the data on these stat leaders from? Many of them are just straight up incorrect….
De’Aaron Fox was the steals leader in 2024, not SGA. Same number of total steals but higher per game metrics, which is what you are using for all the other counting stats otherwise Joel Embiid would be on here 0 times.
Also the 2022 SPG leader was Dejounte Murray, not PG.
2017 was Draymond, not CP3.
And as others have said, Ant was the 3PM leader last year, not Steph. I’m sure there are dozens of other incorrect data points on here, those are just the ones that jumped out immediately
NBA Recap mentions it in the video, but these rankings are based on per game averages. For example, Curry had the highest 3PM per game average. I think u/Greenwalrus72 explains it well in his comment above
Per game is a load of crap to penalize players who actually put in the effort almost every night
Strange cropping
I expected more Durant here
For what in particular?
Lebron would be on this chart 15 times if it went back far enough
LeBron led in VORP 6 times, but the most recent was 2013 season.
He lead in PER 9 times.
Would be way better if it was totals, not per game.
Yeah, Harden in 2018 had the 2nd most 3pm made in a season of all time (#1 is 2015 Steph) but according to this list is not the league leader that season.
Al Jefferson with almost 20 post-ups is crazy.
Man I remember him from 2k16 such a fun player to play with
LeBron is barely on here lol
He’d be on there 15 times if they went further back
Yeah didn’t expect that
lol post ups is a stat now? anything to glaze jokic
They included drives as well which is what Shai has been leading, frankly both of them are sort of interesting to include here as the others are more standard stats and drives/post ups require play by play tracking.
Yea the stats chosen to highlight are super random. I don’t know what PER is, but I know people shit on it all the time here on rNBA as a metric.
Yeah it’s “basic stats” “play by play tracking” “per minute advanced stat (per)” “cumulative advanced stat (Vorp)”
I guess they need some variance. While SGA is really cooking advanced stats this year and #1 for some of them, if they did all the advanced stats for the past 5-6 years it would be /r/TopRightMessi for Jokic and make it boring. Still odd choices though.
He can’t win but he gets stats!