The Tape
Was Bill Walton better than Larry Bird?
Bill Walton, 1974-1987, against Larry Bird, 1979-1992. 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, Larry Bird is the bigger scorer: 31.5 a game in 1987-88 against 19.9 for Bill Walton in 1976-77. That is a real gap of 11.6 points, not an era illusion — Larry Bird's league averaged 108.2 and Bill Walton's averaged 106.5.
Bill Walton wins the glass by 5.1 rebounds a game (14.4 to 9.3), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Larry Bird is the passer: 6.1 assists a game to 3.8, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Bill Walton: A passing center who won a title and an MVP in the only 2 healthy seasons he ever had. Larry Bird: Three straight MVPs, a 50-40-90 season, and the best passing forward before Jokic.
The numbers are free. The verdict is in the Vault.
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