The Tape
Was Jerry West better than Moses Malone?
Jerry West, 1960-1974, against Moses Malone, 1974-1995. 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, Moses Malone is the bigger scorer: 32.6 a game in 1981-82 against 30.9 for Jerry West in 1965-66. That is a real gap of 1.7 points, not an era illusion — Moses Malone's league averaged 108.6 and Jerry West's averaged 115.5.
Moses Malone wins the glass by 7.6 rebounds a game (14.7 to 7.1), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Jerry West is the passer: 6.1 assists a game to 1.8, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Jerry West: Lost 8 Finals and won 1, and is the only Finals MVP ever chosen from a losing team. Moses Malone: Three MVPs built on offensive rebounds, and the man who said fo, fo, fo and nearly delivered it.
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