The Tape
Was Julius Erving better than Bernard King?
Julius Erving, 1971-1987, against Bernard King, 1977-1993. 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, Bernard King is the bigger scorer: 33.9 a game in 1984-85 against 28.1 for Julius Erving in 1979-80. That is a real gap of 5.8 points, not an era illusion — Bernard King's league averaged 110.8 and Julius Erving's averaged 109.3.
Julius Erving wins the glass by 2.2 rebounds a game (7.4 to 5.2), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Julius Erving: The player who made the game vertical, with 5 of his best seasons spent in a league the record books treat separately. Bernard King: A scoring title at 53.0% from the field, almost entirely from inside 18 feet, and a comeback from a torn ACL nobody else had made.
The numbers are free. The verdict is in the Vault.
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