NBA Ball Hog Statistical Rankings: February Update

My task was simple enough – I wanted to figure out, statistically, who the biggest ball hog/black hole/teammate from hell/etc. was in the NBA.  With the plethora of stats available today, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure that out, I surmised.  While I was researching what stats I should use – Usage %, Assist % – I stumbled across a now defunct site – Basketball-Statistics – that had already done this back in 2009.  Perfect!

After giving their formula some thought and test drives, it seems to pass muster.  You can check out the formula here, but in summary it takes into account how much a player uses up his team’s possessions (Usage %), how well he shoots (True Shooting %) and how often he sets up his teammates (Assist %).  It also takes into account what position on the court the player plays and adjusts the formula based on the average numbers players playing the same position puts on the board.  So, for a true ball hog, we are looking for a guy with an above average Usage Rate (above 20%) who shoots poorly and doesn’t pass.

So far this season, the rookies have not been shy about chucking, and the Bulls’ Antonio Blakeney and New York’s Kevin Knox leads the way.  At the other end of the spectrum, Nikola Jokic, James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo are as anti-ball hog as you can get.

Stream live sports and ESPN originals on ESPN+ for only $4.99 a month. Start your 7-day free trial today!

Here’s our top 20 at this point.

 NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking

(updated after Feb 12th games, only players with a qualifying amount of minutes played included)