The Tape
Was Allen Iverson better than Jayson Tatum?
Allen Iverson, 1996-2010, against Jayson Tatum, 2017-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Allen Iverson is the bigger scorer: 38.8 a game in 2005-06 against 29.9 for Jayson Tatum in 2022-23. That is a real gap of 8.9 points, not an era illusion — Allen Iverson's league averaged 97 and Jayson Tatum's averaged 114.7.
Jayson Tatum wins the glass by 5.6 rebounds a game (8.8 to 3.2), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Allen Iverson is the passer: 7.4 assists a game to 4.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Allen Iverson: An MVP at 6 feet and 165 pounds, in the last era where hand-checking was legal. Jayson Tatum: A title, 7 straight conference finals appearances, and a 3-point volume no forward of the 1990s could have imagined.
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