The NBA regular season is down to its last day, and there has been a little action in the final games before the postseason. Many teams are resting their main guys for the postseason, which starts on Tuesday with the play-in tournament.
Last Friday afternoon, ex-NBA player and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose went on Twitter to discuss his brilliant opinion on how league leaders are rewarded and acknowledged over recent years.
The NBA's league leaders should be based on highest total, not highest average… let's fix that! pic.twitter.com/z4AiInCK9X
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) April 7, 2023
In the top basketball league in the world, the league leaders for the traditional stats like points, rebounds and assists are based on averages rather than totals. There is a minimum threshold to qualify for statistical leaderboards, but this rule still has a glaring loophole. The best example for this year would be in the points category, where Joel Embiid is the top scorer in the NBA with an average of 33.1 points per game.
With one game remaining, Embiid has already secured the official scoring title. But little do fans know that the Philadelphia 76ers superstar doesn't lead the league in total points, behind Boston Celtics counterpart Jayson Tatum because he's appeared in eight fewer games. Embiid has accumulated 2,183 markers this season compared to Tatum's 2,225, an insurmountable lead entering the final day of 2022-23.
Rose's hot take on Twitter has started a boatload of debates, and there are two major reasons why he is correct.
Reward durability over rest
This is no intentional shot at the Sixers, but Embiid and James Harden are the points and assists leaders in the NBA, yet neither is No. 1 in terms of totals. Those mantles belong to Tatum and Trae Young, respectively.
Any diehard NBA fan would know that Tatum and Young are two of the most durable stars in the league today, so the accomplishment of being the league leader must be given to them.
Players suiting up every night has been less important for many teams in the modern era, whether stars or role players, due to the outsized importance of the playoffs compared to the regular season. Yes, there is a 65-game minimum for award eligibility in the new CBA, but the league leaders category is the best way to recognize the most durable players in the league.
For instance, rebounding totals leader Domantas Sabonis could have easily sat down a few games when he sustained a fractured thumb injury earlier in the season, but he missed only one game and fought through the pain. He's not just the league leader in collected boards as a result, but helped the Sacramento Kings make the playoffs for the first time since 2006, a feat they accomplished nearly two weeks before the end of the regular season.
Leave averages as a gauge for the major awards
Since this debate of totals or averages is a never-ending argument, per-game averages could still be utilized to determine the six major awards in the association, along with All-NBA and All-Defense teams. Furthermore, that is likely one major reason why the new CBA prioritized a minimum game threshold.
If voters and fans use the averages to give their opinions on awards, why not give real recognition to the aggregate league leaders? By definition, league leaders are the teams or players at the top of the standings or the table. That means they have accumulated the most points or wins, so it is by total and not by averages.
It sounds wrong if you are the leading scorer of a tournament or the league, but one or two individuals have technically scored more points than you.
Young has received a ton of flak because of his questionable mentality and lackluster defense. Still, he must be given the milestone of topping the assist category almost yearly. Most of you might not have heard, but Young has led the NBA in total assists for the past two seasons, and that must count for something in the record books, even if he has no individual award.
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