The Tape
Was Steve Nash better than Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Steve Nash, 1996-2015, against Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2013-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, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the bigger scorer: 30.1 a game in 2019-20 against 21.5 for Steve Nash in 2006-07. That is a real gap of 8.6 points, not an era illusion — Giannis Antetokounmpo's league averaged 111.8 and Steve Nash's averaged 98.7.
Giannis Antetokounmpo wins the glass by 10.1 rebounds a game (13.6 to 3.5), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Steve Nash is the passer: 11.6 assists a game to 5.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Steve Nash: Two MVPs for running the offense that the entire league copied within 10 years. Giannis Antetokounmpo: Two MVPs and a Defensive Player of the Year, on a first step no defensive scheme has solved.
The numbers are free. The verdict is in the Vault.
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