{"id":1609,"date":"2025-05-18T10:17:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T10:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/?p=1609"},"modified":"2025-05-18T19:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T19:05:25","slug":"no-giannis-is-not-the-top-nba-scorer-since-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/2025\/05\/18\/no-giannis-is-not-the-top-nba-scorer-since-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Giannis is NOT the top NBA scorer since 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since the 2014-15 season, the NBA players with the best average points per game (PPG), with a minimum of 41 games played per 82 team games, are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/strong>: 28.6 PPG (450 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Joel Embiid<\/strong>: 27.7 PPG (452 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Kevin Durant<\/strong>: 27.1 PPG (581 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. James Harden<\/strong>: 26.9 PPG (780 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Stephen Curry<\/strong>: 26.9 PPG (690 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. LeBron James<\/strong>: 26.4 PPG (720 games)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Damian Lillard<\/strong>: 26.3 PPG (736 games)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If we include the playoffs (as we should) it looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/strong>: 28.9 PPG (505 games) Kevin Durant<\/strong>: 27.4 PPG (678 games) Joel Embiid<\/strong>: 27.4 PPG (511 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    games) Stephen Curry<\/strong>: 27.0 PPG (826 games) LeBron James<\/strong>: 26.8 PPG (854 games) James Harden<\/strong>: 26.7 PPG (898 games) Damian Lillard<\/strong>: 26.2 PPG (793 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cherry picking statistics to try and make Giannis look good is a full time thing for some people on social media. “Most 30pt games” means nothing when, like this season, Giannis didn’t win a single game that mattered against top teams in the East. He simply does stat padding against easier opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A notable example is the 2023-24 season game against the Washington Wizards, where he scored 35 points and grabbed 15 rebounds but was accused of stat-padding in a blowout loss (117-94). Social media posts highlighted moments like Giannis taking unnecessary shots or pushing for rebounds late in decided games, suggesting he was chasing triple-doubles or scoring titles to bolster his MVP candidacy. This perception intensified after he reportedly lobbied to return to a game to secure a triple-double, as mentioned in a 2023 Athletic article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Disrupts Team Chemistry<\/strong>: Chasing stats can lead to forced plays, reducing ball movement and sidelining teammates like Damian Lillard or Khris Middleton, who are critical to Milwaukee\u2019s offense.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Undermines Strategy<\/strong>: In clutch moments, Giannis\u2019 insistence on dominating the ball (e.g., taking contested shots or driving into crowded defenses) can override better play-calling, especially in playoffs where his 31.6% three-point shooting and 58.9% free-throw shooting (career playoff averages) are exploitable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Sets a Poor Example<\/strong>: As a leader, prioritising personal stats over winning could demotivate role players or signal a lack of trust in the system, particularly under coaches like Doc Rivers, who emphasise structured play.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Data from the 2024-25 season shows Giannis averaging 31.0 PPG, 12.1 RPG, and 5.9 APG on 60.7% FG, elite numbers that led to his ninth straight All-NBA nod. However, Milwaukee\u2019s 48-34 record and first-round playoff exit against Indiana fueled criticism that his stat-heavy approach didn\u2019t translate to postseason success. His usage rate (35.8%, second in the NBA) suggests he dominates possessions, potentially limiting Lillard\u2019s playmaking (24.3 PPG, down from 32.2 the prior season).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Where things really count are the NBA playoffs. Since the 2014-15 season, the NBA players with the highest average points per game (PPG) in the playoffs, with a minimum of 41 games played per 82 team games, are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/strong>: 30.9 PPG (55 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Kevin Durant<\/strong>: 29.6 PPG (97 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      LeBron James<\/strong>: 28.9 PPG (134 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Donovan Mitchell<\/strong>: 28.3 PPG (63 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Devin Booker<\/strong>: 28.0 PPG (47 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Nikola Joki\u0107<\/strong>: 27.5 PPG (93 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Anthony Edwards<\/strong>: 27.4 PPG (37 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Kawhi Leonard<\/strong>: 27.3 PPG (88 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Stephen Curry<\/strong>: 27.2 PPG (136 games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Sure, this is summer and the traditional “will Giannis be traded” BS wars have begun. But maybe let’s check our stats before floating them out there?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Cherry picking statistics to try and make Giannis look good is a full time thing for some people on social media. “Most 30pt games” means nothing when, like this season, Giannis didn’t win a single game that mattered against top teams in the East. He simply does stat padding against easier opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[154],"tags":[518,554,555,163,552,553],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-accolades","tag-charts","tag-metrics","tag-points","tag-scorer","tag-top"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/giannis-points-bs.jpg?fit=541%2C680&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1612,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions\/1612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}