What a wild NBA season! As usual, we got to witness the good, the bad, the ugly, the incredible and of course, the silly. Behind all of those unforgettable moments are raw numbers. As a total nerd for stats and trivia, I thought it would be appropriate to put together a list of 100 interesting stats and facts from the 2021-22 NBA season.
This is the final installment of a four-part season stats retrospective, but you can look forward to ‘Zak’s Stats’ as a weekly feature next season. If you’ve missed the first three editions, you can check them out here:
Career-long and age-based stats
3-point records, milestones & more
Rebounds, assists and triple-doubles
Below, you’ll find 32 more facts I dug up that don’t fit neatly into any of the aforementioned categories.
I’ll get into historic team win totals, shooting percentages, player durability and even the rare zero-point double-double (sorry Draymond fans, he’s not included). Most importantly, I’ll touch on fantasy values from the 2021-22 season, ranging from breakouts Desmond Bane and Tyrese Maxey, to let-downs like Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard.
I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed putting them together!
- Only five players played 82 games this season: Dwight Powell, Saddiq Bey, Den Avdija, Kevon Looney and Mikal Bridges. Bridges has yet to miss a game in four professional seasons after starting every game at Villanova in two collegiate campaigns.
- Only three players in NBA history have recorded a double-double with zero points, and two of them came this season. Josh Giddey and Tomas Satoransky joined Norm Van Lier on this...umm…illustrious list.
Tomas Satoransky (0 Pts, 10 Reb, 13 Ast) just recorded the 3rd double-double with 0 pts in NBA history.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 31, 2022
It's the 2nd one this season, Josh Giddey (Dec. 26, 2021 -- 0, 10, 10)
The only other 0 point double-double in NBA history came from Norm Van Lier (Jan. 5, 1971 -- 0, 11, 13) pic.twitter.com/67ANvcXjEJ
- Phoenix set the franchise single-season record with 64 wins this season, surpassing teams led by Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire and Charles Barkley.
- Memphis matched the franchise win record (56) and earned the highest playoff seed in team history as the No. 2 seed in the West.
- Chris Paul has been on four teams that recorded the most wins in their franchise’s history (Hornets, Clippers, Rockets, Suns).
2008: Hornets franchise record wins
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 6, 2022
2014: Clippers franchise record wins
2018: Rockets franchise record wins
2022: Suns franchise record wins
What do they have in common?
Chris Paul. pic.twitter.com/d8i8PC5CvN
- Nikola Jokic finished as fantasy’s top player for the second season in a row. He joins Kevin Durant (5), Shawn Marion (3), Dirk Nowitzki (2), James Harden (2) and Anthony Davis (2) as the only players since 2000 to finish as the top fantasy player in multiple seasons.
- Aside from his rookie season, Kevin Durant has finished no worse than 8th in 9-cat scoring in every year of his career. That’s 12 in a row!
- Desmond Bane was fantasy’s best value this season based on ADP (undrafted most everywhere, 182 on CBS) and finish (35). He edged out other supreme values like Robert Williams, Darius Garland, Miles Bridges, Dejounte Murray and DeMar DeRozan.
DESMOND BANE CAUGHT STEPH 😳 pic.twitter.com/1cgcSxxDWX
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 12, 2022
- Part of Bane’s fantasy success is owed to his elite FT shooting. He became the first Grizzly to ever shoot better than 90% from the charity stripe for an entire season.
- Nine of the 12 players drafted on average in the first round of fantasy hoops leagues finished in the top-12, with the only exceptions Damian Lillard (injury), Bradley Beal (injury) and Luka Doncic (FT%).
- Sacramento extended its NBA-worst playoff drought to an astounding 16 straight seasons after failing to make the postseason yet again.
- Two teams showed dramatic improvements this season and doubled last season’s win totals. The Cavs won 22 games last season and 44 this season, while the Timberwolves went from 23 to 46.
- Four teams stayed motionless from a season ago. The Thunder, Rockets, Magic and Pistons finished with the four worst records for the second straight season. Orlando’s tremendous tanking paid off as they won the NBA Draft Lottery and will get their choice of Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren or Paolo Banchero. Oklahoma City will pick 2nd (and 12th), Houston will pick third and Detroit will pick 5th.
- Three pairs of teammates finished in the top-12 in 9-cat per-game scoring this season: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and James Harden.
- The best fantasy team this season was the 76ers based on the combined average finish of the team’s top-3 players. James Harden (12), Joel Embiid (3) and Tyrese Maxey (57) had an average fantasy finish of 24. Boston, Memphis and Milwaukee were not far behind.
- An NBA-record 14 different players scored at least 50 points this season.
- The Thunder suffered the worst loss in NBA history with a 152-79 trouncing at the hands of Memphis on Dec. 2.
Saddiq Bey vs ORL 🔥
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 18, 2022
51 Points (21 in 1st)
17/27 Shooting
10 Threes
9 Rebounds
4 Assists
3 Steals
This was the 5th 50-PT game in the NBA over the past 7 days. 8th this month.
pic.twitter.com/1KeEd3v7Xu - Herbert Jones (who played 79 games) led all rookies in total fantasy value, finishing the season 36th compared to his finish of 73rd per game.
- Scottie Barnes led all rookies in per-game value with a finish of 66th.
- Joel Embiid (30.6 PPG) became the first international player and the first center since Shaquille O’Neal (99-00) to win the scoring title.
History for Joel Embiid 👏
— ESPN (@espn) April 10, 2022
He's the first center to win the NBA scoring title since Shaq in 1999-2000! pic.twitter.com/iDKsjXr9WW
- The top-3 scorers this season were all international (Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic).
- Embiid’s 13 games with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds are the most in a single season in NBA history since the merger.
- Rudy Gobert became the first player in NBA history to average at least 15 points per game on 70% shooting.
- Only two players scored 60 points in a game this season: Kyrie Irving and Karl-Anthony Towns.
- Irving and Towns’ 60-point games were the first pair to occur on back-to-back nights since 1962 (the first pair between two different players), and they were strangely similar in nature. The performances came one day apart (March 14 for Towns, March 15 for Irving), and both players finished with exactly 31 FG attempts, at least seven triples and at least 60% shooting.
Last night, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 60 points; tonight Kyrie Irving did the same.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 16, 2022
It's the first time since 1962 that there have been 60-point games on consecutive days.
That 1962 instance was Wilt Chamberlain doing it by himself. pic.twitter.com/gTpZsyEfWw
- Jalen Green had the most 30-point games by a rookie this season with eight. All other rookies combined for 12, and none had more than two. Green is the only rookie this season with a 40-point game.
- Lance Stephenson became the first player in NBA history to score 20 points off the bench in the first quarter. His resurgence in Indiana as a useful real-life (and occasionally fantasy) player was a fun story this season, despite the lack of LeBron ear-blowing.
🗣 BORN READY!
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 6, 2022
20-POINT FIRST QUARTER FOR LANCE STEPHENSON 🎸🔥 #GOLDBLOODED
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/NixVgHmZig
- Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum became the fourth pair of teammates with 50-point, 10-rebound games in the same season. Both had 50/10 games in January.
- Trae Young led the NBA in 40-point, 10-assist games with four, double the amount of the next closest players, Ja Morant and Nikola Jokic (two each).
- Jayson Tatum had two 50-point games this season, giving him four for his career, tied for the most in Celtics history with Larry Bird.
- Victor Oladipo closed the season with a 40-point, 10-rebound game. He appeared in only eight games this season and 88 total across the last three. He only has three 40-point games in his career, and the most recent prior to the 21-22 finale came in December 2017.
Heat guard Victor Oladipo scored 40 points tonight. He had 59 points in his first 7 games of the season. @VicOladipo is the first Heat player with 40 points and 10 rebounds in a game since Dwyane Wade in 2011. @ESPNStatsInfo pic.twitter.com/DGXM9GQleS
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) April 11, 2022
- Nikola Jokic had the highest single-game fantasy total this season and the fifth-highest in the last five seasons when he went for 46/12/11/3/4 against the Pelicans on March 6. He scored 95 DraftKings points and 92.9 FanDuel points.
