Trivial Pursuit
A little NBA trivia to help get you through the dog days of summer.
What’s the most points a player has scored without recording a 2,000-point season?
Kevin Garnett scored 26,071 career points, good for 19th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, but his single-season high was 1,987 points in 2003-04. Garnett won the MVP Award that season and was named to the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams.
What’s the most points a player has scored without averaging at least 20 PPG in a season?
Robert Parish scored 23,334 career points without recording a single season in which he averaged at least 20 PPG. He just missed in 1981-82, falling 10 points shy (1,590 points in 80 games, an average of 19.9 PPG).
Which player in the 25,000-point club has the lowest career high?
A total of 25 players have reached the 25,000-point milestone. The lowest career high belongs to John Havlicek, who scored 43 points on Dec. 17, 1963 and again on March 8, 1970. It should be noted that Havlicek’s postseason career high is 54 points on April 1, 1973. He also matched his regular season high of 43 points in three playoff games.
Which players with at least 10,000 career points have the lowest and highest coefficients of variation?
The coefficient of variation, or CV, measures the variability around the mean of a distribution. It’s calculated as follows:
CV = 100 x (standard_deviation / mean)For example, a CV of 10 means the value of the standard deviation is 10% of the value of the mean. The CV allows us to compare the variation of distributions that have different mean values; the greater the CV, the greater the variability around the mean.
The lowest CV in the 10,000-point club belongs to Kevin Durant. On a game-by-game basis, Durant averages 27.3 points with a standard deviation of 7.8 points, a CV of 28.6%.
Durant, of course, is still active, so that figure will likely change. The inactive player with the lowest CV is former Philadelphia Warrior Paul Arizin at 30.9%. The steady Arizin scored between 20 and 29 points in 54.7% of his 713 career games.
The player in this group with the highest CV is Mike Miller at 74.6%. If you picked one of Miller’s games at random, you’d be almost as likely to draw a scoreless game (13.0%) as you would a 20-point game (14.1%).
What’s the most rebounds a player has collected without recording a 1,000-rebound season?
Karl Malone ranks seventh on the NBA’s career leaderboard with 14,968 rebounds, but the most he recorded in a single season was 986 in 1987-88. Malone grabbed at least 600 rebounds in 17 of his 19 seasons, the most such seasons in NBA history.
What’s the most rebounds a player has collected without averaging at least 10 RPG in a season?
Dirk Nowitzki secured 11,489 career rebounds without averaging at least 10 RPG in a single season. His closest call came in 2001-02, when he recorded 755 rebounds in 76 games (9.93 RPG).
I should note that LeBron James will likely pass Nowitzki in 2024-25. James has 11,185 career rebounds, with a single-season high of 8.65 RPG in 2017-18.
How many points would Wilt Chamberlain have scored if he had been an average free throw shooter?
In 1959-60, Chamberlain’s rookie season, he shot 577-991 from the free throw line (58.2%). The league success rate was 73.46% that season, so an average free throw shooter would have made 728 free throws given 991 attempts.
I repeated this for each season of Chamberlain’s career, a process that yielded an additional 2,602 points. This would push his career scoring average from 30.1 PPG to 32.6 PPG.
Who has played the most games without a disqualification?
Jamal Crawford appeared in 1,327 regular season games and never fouled out. The only other player to record at least 1,000 games played without a disqualification is Wilt Chamberlain (1,045).
Who has played the fewest minutes in a game before being disqualified?
On Dec. 29, 1997, the Dallas Mavericks’ Bubba Wells committed six fouls despite playing only three minutes. Mavericks head coach Don Nelson inserted Wells into the game with the sole purpose of intentionally fouling the Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman whenever possible. The strategy backfired, as Rodman — a 55.0% free throw shooter that season — sank nine of the resulting 12 attempts.
Who are the youngest and oldest players to appear in an NBA game?
Andrew Bynum was just 18 years and six days old when he made his NBA debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 2, 2005. Bynum was held scoreless in five minutes of action.
Nat Hickey was 45 years and 363 days old when he appeared in a game for the Providence Steamrollers on Jan. 28, 1948. Hickey — who was also Providence’s head coach — did not score and committed four fouls while playing the last three-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter.
Which team has posted the highest home winning percentage in a season?
Two teams have finished the regular season with a 40-1 record at home (a winning percentage of .976): the 1985-86 Boston Celtics and the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs. Those Celtics also went 10-0 in home playoff games on their way to an NBA title.
Which team has posted the highest road winning percentage in a season?
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors went 34-7 on the road, a winning percentage of .829. However, in the playoffs they were just 4-6 away from home.
Which franchise has recorded the fewest 50-win seasons?
The Brooklyn Nets (2001-02) and the New Orleans Pelicans (2007-08) have recorded just one 50-win season apiece. The Nets have played 48 NBA seasons, while the Pelicans have only played 22.
Which franchise has recorded the fewest 50-loss seasons?
The New Orleans Pelicans have only recorded three 50-loss seasons, but as mentioned above that’s only over 22 seasons. On a percentage basis it’s the Boston Celtics, who’ve lost 50 or more games just six times in 78 seasons (7.7%).
Which team has recorded the most consecutive 100-point games?
The Denver Nuggets scored at least 100 point in each game from Jan. 21, 1981 through Dec. 8, 1982, a span of 136 contests. The only other team to record at least 100 such games in a row is the San Antonio Spurs with 129 (Dec. 12, 1978 through March 14, 1980).
Which franchise has the most 2,000-point scorers?
We can look at this two ways:
total number of 2,000-point seasons
distinct players with a 2,000-point season
Players for the Los Angeles Lakers have recorded 26 2,000-point seasons, six more than any other franchise:
8 — Kobe Bryant,
5 — Elgin Baylor and Jerry West
4 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2 — Gail Goodrich and Shaquille O’Neal
On the other hand, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors have each had seven distinct players record a 2,000-point season, the most for any franchise.
First, the Celtics:
4 — Larry Bird and Paul Pierce
2 — John Havlicek and Jayson Tatum
1 — Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, and Isaiah Thomas
Next, the Warriors:
5 — Wilt Chamberlain
4 — Rick Barry
3 — Chris Mullin
2 — Stephen Curry
1 — Purvis Short, Antawn Jamison, and Kevin Durant
How many NBA franchises have made multiple Finals appearances without a series loss?
One: the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are 6-0 in the NBA Finals, having won all six titles in an eight-season span from 1990-91 through 1997-98.
How many NBA franchises have made multiple Finals appearances without a series win?
Four: the Phoenix Suns are 0-3 in their Finals appearances, while the Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, are Utah Jazz are all 0-2.
Which franchise has played the most seasons without winning an NBA title?
The Phoenix Suns have played 56 seasons without winning an NBA title. They are followed by the LA Clippers (54) and the Utah Jazz (50).
Which NBA franchise has gone by the most distinct names?
The Washington Wizards have used six distinct names, one more than the Sacramento Kings:
Chicago Packers (1961-1962)
Chicago Zephyrs (1962-1963)
Baltimore Bullets (1963-1973)
Capital Bullets (1973-1974)
Washington Bullets (1974-1997)
Washington Wizards (1997-present)
How many MVPs have failed to reach at least one of the following milestones in their award-winning season: 20 PPG, 10 RPG, or 10 APG?
Zero. Every MVP has reached at least one of those statistical minimums. Only one MVP has reached all three of those thresholds: Russell Westbrook in 2016-17.
How many MVPs have not been named All-NBA First Team?
Believe it or not, it’s happened four times:
1957-58: Bill Russell (MVP), Bob Pettit (All-NBA First Team)
1960-61: Russell (MVP), Wilt Chamberlain (All-NBA First Team)
1961-62: Russell (MVP), Chamberlain (All-NBA First Team)
1972-73: Dave Cowens (MVP), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (All-NBA First Team)
In each case, the MVP Award winner was named All-NBA Second Team.
How many players have won the All-Star Game MVP, MVP, and Finals MVP Awards in the same season?
It’s happened four times by three different players:
Willis Reed, 1969-70
Michael Jordan, 1995-96 and 1997-98
Shaquille O’Neal, 1999-00
Keep in mind that the NBA did not begin handing out the Finals MVP Award until 1969.
How many players have won the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards in the same season?
Two: Wilt Chamberlain in 1959-60 and Wes Unseld in 1968-69. Unseld averaged just 13.8 PPG that season, the lowest such figure ever recorded by an MVP.
Who are the oldest and youngest winners of the Rookie of the Year Award?
Using the last day of the regular season to calculate each winner’s age, the youngest recipient is LeBron James in 2003-04 (19 years and 106 days). Kevin Durant and LaMelo Ball also received the honor as teenagers.
The oldest Rookie of the Year is David Robinson (24 years and 259 days). Robinson, of course, had to fulfill a two-year commitment to the U.S. Navy before starting his NBA career.
The record holder for the quickest fouling out is Bubba Wells, not Bonzi. That was his lone NBA season. He did it in 2 minutes and 43 seconds, to be exact. The previous record of 5 minutes was set in 1956.