Will Russell Westbrook finish this season with 2,000 shot attempts?
Russell Westbrook is the favorite to win the NBA’s MVP Award this season. He is averaging a triple-double this season (31.8 points per game to go along with 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per contest). He could become only the second player (since Oscar Robertson) to average a triple-double in a season, and could overtake the Big “O” for most triple-doubles in a season.
Here’s another stat about Westbrook: With four games remaining, Westbrook has attempted 1,874 shots, or about 24 per game. He would need to fire up 116 shots in his final four contests to become the 11th player in NBA history to attempt 2,000 or more shots in a regular season. He’s on a pace for 1,970, so he’ll have to take closer to 30 shots per game in those last four games to reach 2,000.
Here’s a look at some other stats re: players to have attempted 2,000 or more shots in a season:
- The last player to attempt 2,000 shots in an NBA season was Kobe Bryant in 2005-06. He took 2,173 shots that year.
- There have been 21 seasons where a player took 2,000 shots. That was accomplished by 10 players (Westbrook could become the 11th player). Wilt Chamberlain had the most 2,000-shot seasons with six. Elvin Hayes is next on the list with three campaigns.
With 1,874 shots this season, Westbrook became the 42nd different player to reach 1,750 shots in a season (it has happened 90 times in the history of the NBA). Michael Jordan did it 10 times to top the list, followed by Wilt with seven, Kareem Abdu-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Alex English and Dominique Wilkins with five such seasons, and Elvin Hayes and Allen Iverson with four seasons each with 1,750 shot attempts.
Of the 90 occasions/seasons when a player attempted 1,750 shots, Westbrook’s .426 field goal percentage ranks as the 11th lowest of the 90. Kobe Bryant is also the last player to reach 1,750 shots in a season; he did it in 2006-07.
It doesn’t look like any other player this season with join Westbrook in the 1,750-shot club; New Orleans’ Anthony Davis has taken the second most shots this year with 1,499 and DeMar DeRozan follows with 1,498. Nine other players this year have attempted 1,400 or more shots this season.
The most players to reach 1,750 shot attempts in an NBA season is seven. That was done twice… in 1962 and 1973.