Will a player ever average 40ppg in today's NBA

[JonFromVA]

The cool thing about outliers is they can happen at any time.

[JayMKE]

Maybe it’s possible but there is no way you want your star player carrying that kind of load

[FrobeBryant]

Even with inflated scoring, I just don’t see today’s players getting there

[manlisten]

Kobe averaged 40 in 4 separate months (2 in the same season) and it felt like a Herculean effort that he was gunning for. Besides Luka, I haven't really seen a scorer since then who has that kind of blood thirsty drive for buckets.

[316Hornets]

Wemby 25 pts in 22 min 9/11 shooting through 3q tonight.

Teams have trouble with guys like Embiid dominating. Wemby could easily develop a dominant inside game with his length.

January 22, 2024 Embiid put up 70 against Wemby. Seems like Wemby could return the favor at some point.

[dhsilv2]

Wemby 25 pts in 22 min 9/11 shooting through 3q tonight.

Teams have trouble with guys like Embiid dominating. Wemby could easily develop a dominant inside game with his length.

January 22, 2024 Embiid put up 70 against Wemby. Seems like Wemby could return the favor at some point.

Wemby...inside game...

Just no...just no. He's never going to be dominate inside of 10 feet, outside of lobs.

[316Hornets]

Wemby 25 pts in 22 min 9/11 shooting through 3q tonight.

Teams have trouble with guys like Embiid dominating. Wemby could easily develop a dominant inside game with his length.

January 22, 2024 Embiid put up 70 against Wemby. Seems like Wemby could return the favor at some point.

Wemby...inside game...

Just no...just no. He's never going to be dominate inside of 10 feet, outside of lobs.

For as long as basketball has been invented, dominating the post is like 70% height. Wemby is young but give it a few years and some muscle growth.

[dhsilv2]

Wemby 25 pts in 22 min 9/11 shooting through 3q tonight.

Teams have trouble with guys like Embiid dominating. Wemby could easily develop a dominant inside game with his length.

January 22, 2024 Embiid put up 70 against Wemby. Seems like Wemby could return the favor at some point.

Wemby...inside game...

Just no...just no. He's never going to be dominate inside of 10 feet, outside of lobs.

For as long as basketball has been invented, dominating the post is like 70% height. Wemby is young but give it a few years and some muscle growth.

Height is absolutely not the key to dominating the post. While it's helpful, there's a million other things that go into it. And Wemby has none of it. Wemby has one of the worst builds in NBA History to play in the post.

[Cavsfansince84]

People talking about Wemby as a possible 40ppg are insane imo. First, I doubt he ever plays more than 34-35mpg. Second, he is a defense first player. You don't want him exerting a ton of energy on offense to where he isn't a dpoy type player on the other end. Third, I don't think he could even avg 33ppg on good efficiency unless he becomes some lights out 3 pt shooter and then he's spending way too much time near the 3 pt line. Fourth, I am going to go ahead and predict that Wemby only has like 1-2 seasons where he breaks 30ppg. I think most years he will be around 27-28ppg on very good efficiency and dpoy caliber on the other end which is what you want for him. You surround him with more offensive type of players and 1 3&d guy.

[picko]

It's not weird at all.

It's a little weird. Kobe played in a system which explicitly took him away from playmaking type opportunities compared to the usage of a guy like Doncic, who still managed to rock a whole crapload of shots. Bandying about single-season shooting peak doesn't really change that fact.

Yeah, those three guys shot more in their uber peak seasons, but they also didn't have the same size or playmaking ability to enable the option to play the same way... and Doncic's peak season is still as high as Kobe's second-highest shooting volume performance. One season isn't really the difference.

Iverson, sure. AI was a major chucker on bad offensive teams. That one makes sense. And yes, Jordan shot a lot as well. He definitely prioritized the scoring title to a specific degree... but again, he didn't shoot that much more than Doncic either, especially once you normalize for the offense and the differences in playmaking.

This thread is about averaging 40 PPG. Of course we are talking about peak.

And the reality is that Kobe, Jordan and Iverson (among others) have a greater tendency to shoot than Doncic. Doncic's peak FGA per 100 possessions would rank 8th for Jordan, 4th for Kobe and 4th for Iverson.

The simple reality is that you need to put up an incredibly high number of shots to average 40 PPG. Possibly more than Jordan or Kobe or Iverson ever did. And while Doncic shoots a lot, there is no sign that he's going to increase his shot volume 10 to 20% to get him in the range required to average 40 PPG.

[maverick_41]

Yes, if Luka plays all 82 games against the Mavs

[tsherkin]

This thread is about averaging 40 PPG. Of course we are talking about peak.

Not when a generic statement is made. Doncic shoots a lot. Even as a higher-volume playmaker than Kobe, he still has a season where he shot as much as Kobe's second-highest shot rate. So no, the concept doesn't really apply.

The simple reality is that you need to put up an incredibly high number of shots to average 40 PPG.

Absolutely.

And it has been done twice in NBA history, both by Wilt, last in 1963, and he played 47.6+ mpg in both seasons. It isn't likely to happen any time soon.

We know that volume shooting to that degree isn't a smart strategy in terms of contention, so we're talking about an ATG talent on a bad team, playing more minutes per game than we've seen in a long time.

We've only seen 35+ ppg 11 times in NBA history.... 5 of which were Wilt. And only Wilt and MJ have done it twice.

So yeah, we're really not likely to see 40+ any time soon.

[Dick Tate]

Good thing Luka got in shape. Just sayin'.

[jowglenn]

I want to say no; but if you'd asked me ten years ago, I'd say we'd never see another player average a triple double for a season (had only been done once, by Oscar Robertson, in the 60s'.) But then Westbrook did it FOUR TIMES and then Jokic did it.

So anything is possible, that's for sure.