Data Visualizations for the 2023 NBA Season
The 2023 NBA regular season has been one of the most entertaining in recent history. From the surprising storylines to the record-breaking performances, there have certainly been plenty of moments that fans will remember for years. Conveniently, many of the highlights and stories of the season can be summarized in a few succinct plots: So here are some data visualizations to recap the most extraordinary moments and trends of the season.
Lebron James Becomes the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer
On February 7th, LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38-year-old record to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. This record was widely considered unbreakable before LeBron secured a realistic chance of surpassing Abdul-Jabbar a few seasons ago, and he has at least two more seasons to continue adding to his career totals. LeBron will likely hold the record longer than Abdul-Jabbar: No active players are remotely on pace with his career scoring output. LeBron already claimed the all-time postseason leading scorer title in 2017, so it will be a long time before any single player scores more total points in the NBA.
A Scoring Explosion
Before this season, only five players in NBA history have scored 71 or more points in a single game. On January 2nd, Donovan Mitchell added himself to this exclusive club by scoring 71 against the Chicago Bulls, the most points by one player in a single game since Kobe Bryant’s 81 in 2006. Less than two months later, Damian Lillard joined the club with his own 71-point night against the Houston Rockets on February 26th. However, these two weren’t the only players with all-time great performances this season; according to Game Score, an aggregate statistic made to encapsulate all facets of a player's counting stats into one number, 5 out of the top 12 individual single-game performances of all time occurred this season. The two 71-point games made this short list, along with Luka Doncic’s 60-21-10 triple-double, Joel Embiid’s 59 points-11 rebounds-7 blocks, and a separate 60-point game by Lillard.
And those record-breaking Game Score stat lines weren’t even extreme outliers: The 2023 NBA season had 25 total 50-point games, the most in league history. These extraordinary numbers are likely a result of an increased league-wide pace, but I don’t think many people mind seeing their favorite players put up some of the most impressive stat lines of all time.
The Death of The Mid-Range?
The frequency of mid-range shots across the NBA has unfailingly decreased since 2005, and the 2023 season was no exception. However, 2023 also marked the highest field goal percentage for mid-range shots in NBA history. This slight uptick in efficiency is ironic: the mid-range shot is better than ever in a year where it’s been used the least. The trend is understandable, though: players are likely only taking mid-range shots these days if they are incredibly good looks.
The Kings Shock the NBA
One of the most surprising stories of the season was the enduring success of the Sacramento Kings. Leading up to the season, many experts predicted they would win less than 37 games, making them huge underdogs to even make the playoffs. Defying all expectations, their 48-34 record earned them the third seed in the Western Conference and broke their 16-season playoff drought, which was the 4th longest streak in modern American pro sports history. Even though they are going into the postseason with one of the best win-loss records in the NBA, many still doubt that they will continue their success - I’m sure they will look to prove people wrong.
I am really happy with how these visualizations turned out; I feel like they are some of the most professional-looking I’ve made to date. The jump in quality can be attributed to the “Data Visualization and Exploration” course that I’ve been taking this semester as part of my Data Science Masters. I’ve spent the past few months gaining valuable perspective into creating publication-quality data visualizations while writing clean, elegant R code. When that class officially concludes in early May, I will post a comprehensive overview of the most interesting and useful concepts I learned over the semester. I want to publish “recaps” for my other three graduate courses as well: I’ve learned about some incredibly interesting topics in the world of Data Science that I am really excited to share. As I said, the semester ends in early May, so look out for multiple posts coming out next month!
