The Tape
Was Jayson Tatum better than Luka Doncic?
Jayson Tatum, 2017-present, against Luka Doncic, 2018-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, Luka Doncic is the bigger scorer: 33.8 a game in 2023-24 against 29.9 for Jayson Tatum in 2022-23. That is a real gap of 3.9 points, not an era illusion — Luka Doncic's league averaged 114.2 and Jayson Tatum's averaged 114.7.
Luka Doncic is the passer: 9.8 assists a game to 4.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Jayson Tatum: A title, 7 straight conference finals appearances, and a 3-point volume no forward of the 1990s could have imagined. Luka Doncic: The heaviest offensive load in the league, carried at walking pace on purpose.
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