The NBA's Best at Everything: 15 Categories That Tell You Who Really Dominates

There have been almost 60,000 minutes of basketball played in this NBA season. That's 40-plus days straight of no sleep. That's what NBA coaches live with, and it's a hard life. But even coaches can't watch all of that. That's where the numbers come in. As the saying goes in analytics: people see games better than numbers, but numbers see all the games.

So what happens when you let the data tell the story? You get a breakdown of what players are actually elite at in different areas of the game. From midrange shooting to floaters to clutch play, the metrics capture everything your eyes might miss. That air-ball floater? The numbers remember it. And at the end of the season, those numbers matter.

The Deep Cuts: Ball Hawks and Fadeaways

Let's start with the parts of the game that don't always get the spotlight. When it comes to forcing turnovers, Toumani Camara of the Portland Trail Blazers is operating on another level. He's posting plus-3.2 per game in net points and plus-255 total. What makes him special is the dead ball turnovers, especially the charges he draws. He's a real pest on the court, goading players into fouls with some ugly genius that works.

On the fadeaway front, Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers takes the crown with plus-0.3 per game in net points and plus-20 total. The league's tracking of shot types is subjective, and fadeaways often bleed into step-backs. Doncic takes more step-backs than anyone else, and while he's not the most efficient, the volume means he comes out on top.

Off the Bench, On the Move

Then there's Ajay Mitchell of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who's redefining what it means to be a spark plug off the bench. Mitchell is putting up plus-2.0 per game in net points when coming off the bench, not starting. That's the kind of production that changes games in the fourth quarter.

The numbers are telling a clear story: elite production shows up everywhere on the court, in every situation. From drawing fouls to launching fadeaways to igniting runs from the bench, the best players in the league find ways to impact the game across 15 different categories. And the data doesn't lie.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.