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LeBron James’ career is officially 23 years old. There are 94 players who have logged minutes so far this season who are 22 years old or younger. That means LeBron’s career is older than about 20 percent of the players in the league. Unreal.
Too many games?
Is Steve Kerr right that the season is too long?
Shorten the season! That’s been the battle cry for a lot of people in and around the NBA over the years. As we’ve collected more data on injuries, wear and tear and everything in between to figure out why it feels like more and more star players are missing games, the call to lower the regular season down from 82 games has remained consistent. But not from the NBA itself.
The NBA is a multi-billion-dollar industry. It just received a broadcast deal for $76 billion over 11 years. There is incredible money being made. And while I believe the NBA wants to protect the product it has on the floor in many ways, it also doesn’t want to give up any potential cash in the process. And by shortening the season, you do exactly that. You cut down on revenue at the gate, concessions, advertising and much more.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes the volume of games is the main reason behind soft-tissue injuries for so many players and said he’s “very concerned” about it. He attributes the injuries to a faster game.
“It’s dramatic,” Kerr said prior to Tuesday’s game against the Orlando Magic. “The pace difference is dramatic. This team tonight has really upped their pace compared to last year. I think across the league everybody understands now it’s just easier to score now if you can beat (the other team) down the floor, get out in transition. But when everybody’s doing that, the games are much faster paced, and everyone has to cover out to 25 feet because everyone can shoot 3s.”
“We have all the data,” Kerr said. “Players are running faster and further than ever before, so we’re trying to do the best we can to protect them, but basically have a game every other night and it’s not an easy thing to do … (The medical staff) believe that the wear and tear, the speed, the pace, the mileage, it’s all factoring into these injuries.”
Is everybody playing faster? This year? Yes. According to Basketball Reference, the average pace this season is 100.5 possessions per game, which is up from 98.8 last season. Two seasons ago, it was 98.5 possessions per game. The NBA had averages of 100.0 and 100.3 from 2018-2020. This is the fastest season since 1988-89 (100.6).
Only seven teams in the NBA are playing at a slower pace than last season: the Hawks, Celtics, Bulls, Rockets, Clippers, Grizzlies and Thunder. It’s not dramatically slower for all five, but most have seen a decent drop.
Are a lot of teams playing significantly faster? Raising your pace by a full possession is actually a pretty dramatic hike. Ten teams (Wizards, Jazz, Raptors, 76ers, Bucks, Lakers, Pacers, Warriors, Pistons and Nets) have increased their pace between one and two possessions per game. Three teams (Suns, Cavs and Hornets) have increased their pace between two and three possessions. Seven teams (Kings, Blazers, Magic, Knicks, Wolves, Mavs and Heat) have increased their pace by three or more possessions per game, which is a massive change from one season to the next.
The absurd example from all of those is the Heat, who have increased their pace by an outrageous nine possessions per game. Completely unrecognizable from what we’re used to seeing from them.
So are more stars getting hurt? According to Tom Haberstroh, nearly half of all NBA stars are currently injured and stars are missing twice as many games as they did two seasons ago. Remember the pace is two possessions faster per game than two seasons ago.
So will the NBA cut down on the schedule? Absolutely not. I can’t even fathom the monumental shift it would take for this to happen. It costs the teams and the players revenue with how things are structured. While it may seem they would be left with plenty of money, that’s not exactly how pro sports work.
The last 24
Best-case scenario for Giannis’ groin injury?
🏀 Not bad? Doc Rivers said Giannis Antetokounmpo’s MRI “went pretty well.” He’s likely out two weeks. How will the Bucks survive?
🤔 What happened? Why are the Pelicans so dysfunctional? John Hollinger might know where the blame goes.
🏀 Biggest reason. Jon Krawczynski writes about the key lesson from Nico Harrison’s downfall. Respect the fans.
🏀 Going up. Mirin Fader details why (and how) Evan Mobley’s rise could be impossible to miss.
🏀 More injuries. The Spurs have another issue aside from Wemby and Harper. Stephon Castle (hip) is out 1-2 weeks.
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” dives in on LeBron, the Pistons and the Spurs.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Happy (?) Birthday
It’s Malice at the Palace Day!
Twenty-one years ago today, the “worst night in NBA history” happened. That’s right! The Malice at the Palace is now old enough to go to an NBA game, buy a beer and then throw it on Ron Artest when he’s lying on the scorer’s table after Ben Wallace pushes him late in a game. It was truly the most ridiculous night I’ll ever remember. Even 21 years later, you can pick up things here and there when you rewatch the footage. Or when you watch the documentary Jermaine O’Neal helped put out from the players’ perspective.
I rewatched it last night when I saw the anniversary was today, and two things stood out. First, there’s a point deep into the fracas when Austin Croshere is just standing on the court, almost looking catatonic as he takes in a scene nobody would have believed.
He just stood there until officials started getting the players off the court to safety. I’d never noticed that before. The other thing I noticed was when the broadcast went to Jim Gray, the ESPN sideline reporter for the Pacers-Pistons game.
“Mike and Bill, I was sitting right next to Ron Artest when he was laying down before he went into the stands. A fan came and threw a beer and a bottle on him from point-blank range. When he got hit by that, he erupted. He knew exactly who it was and jumped right out after him. The fan got in very close proximity and that’s what triggered Ron Artest, who had been lying down, even after Ben Wallace had thrown a towel at him.”
Look, I’m sure the bewilderment of what had just unfolded threw everybody for a loop. But that 100 percent did not happen that way. As almost all of the footage showed. Making sense of that in the moment would have been quite the endeavor, though, so we’ll forgive Jim.
About last night
LeBron debuts, makes history
It took a little while because of a sciatic issue, but the aforementioned LeBron James made NBA history last night by officially beginning his NBA-record 23rd season, breaking Vince Carter’s mark of 22 seasons. LeBron’s longevity has become so commonplace that it’s become cliché to say we might not know how to put it into context for a very long time. But let’s try.
Twelve players in NBA history have played at least two decades in the NBA. This is how the career minutes break down when you combine regular-season and playoff minutes:
- LeBron, 23 seasons: 71,101 minutes (and counting).
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 20 seasons: 66,297 minutes.
- Kobe Bryant, 20 seasons: 57,278 minutes.
- Dirk Nowitzki, 21 seasons: 57,263 minutes.
- Kevin Garnett, 21 seasons: 55,701 minutes.
- Robert Parish, 21 seasons: 51,881 minutes.
- Chris Paul, 21 seasons: 51,164 minutes (and counting).
- Vince Carter, 22 seasons: 49,400 minutes.
- Kyle Lowry, 20 seasons: 41,149 minutes (and counting).
- Jamal Crawford, 20 seasons: 41,074 minutes.
- Kevin Willis, 21 seasons: 40,739 minutes.
- Udonis Haslem, 20 seasons: 24,916 minutes.
Aside from Kareem, we’re talking massive gulfs between LeBron’s mileage and everybody else. To further put it into context, the most minutes ever played in a regular season and postseason combined is 4,501 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1968-69. You couldn’t even reach LeBron if you added that number to Kareem’s season.
LeBron’s longevity is so unreal that he passed Reggie Miller last night on the all-time made 3-pointers list. He’s now sixth all-time. James finished with 11 points and 12 assists in 30 minutes as the Lakers (11-4) beat the Jazz (5-9) 140-125. Keyonte George (34) and Lauri Markkanen (31) had big games, but Luka Dončić’s 37 and Austin Reaves’ 26 were too much.
Pistons 120, Hawks 112: Cade Cunningham was back after missing three straight games, and he looked in rhythm. He had 25 points and 10 assists to lead the Pistons (13-2) to their 11th straight win. Their franchise record is 13, and they play at Milwaukee and at Indiana in their next two games. Also, Jalen Duren scored 20 or more points four times last season. He has eight this season after scoring 24 last night.
Magic 121, Warriors 113: The Magic (8-7) survived 34 points from Steph Curry and 33 points from Jimmy Butler to win their fourth game in five contests. Anthony Black had 21 off the bench, and Desmond Bane led Orlando with 23. They scored 64 points in the paint and had 28 fast-break points. They still can’t shoot 3s, but this is an encouraging trend for the Magic.
Spurs 111, Grizzlies 101: The Spurs (10-4) finished the game on an 11-0 run. They didn’t have Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper. But they had De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes to close this one out. Fox had 16 of his 26 in the third, and Barnes scored seven straight in the final 2:13.
Suns 127, Trail Blazers 110: A 36-21 third quarter opened this one up for the Suns (9-6) against a battered Blazers team (6-8). Devin Booker led Phoenix with 19.
Celtics 113, Nets 99: The Celtics (8-7) used 29 points from Jaylen Brown and 22 from Payton Pritchard to end Brooklyn’s win streak at one game. Noah Clowney is shooting a lot of 3-pointers for the Nets (2-12).