The Tape
Was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar better than Jayson Tatum?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969-1989, 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, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the bigger scorer: 36 a game in 1971-72 against 29.9 for Jayson Tatum in 2022-23. That is a real gap of 6.1 points, not an era illusion — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's league averaged 110.2 and Jayson Tatum's averaged 114.7.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wins the glass by 7.8 rebounds a game (16.6 to 8.8), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: One unblockable shot, 6 MVPs, and a scoring record that stood for 39 years. 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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