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.
New #1! Veteran Terrence Ross takes over the dubious honor as the league’s biggest black hole. At the other end of the spectrum, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Spencer Dinwiddie are as anti-ball hog as you can get.
NBA Ball Hog Statistical Ranking
(only players with a qualifying amount of minutes played included, stats up to All-Star break)
| Rank | Last | Ball Hog Score | ||
| 1 | 3 | Terrence Ross | Wing | 80.3 |
| 2 | 4 | Frank Jackson | Point Guard | 78.3 |
| 3 | 5 | Kristaps Porziņģis | Big | 75.2 |
| 4 | 8 | Kelly Oubre | Wing | 71.6 |
| 5 | 10 | Carmelo Anthony | Big | 71.3 |
| 6 | 9 | T.J. Warren | Wing | 65.9 |
| 7 | 13 | Dillon Brooks | Wing | 65.4 |
| 8 | 16 | Marcus Morris | Big | 62.9 |
| 9 | 7 | Kyle Kuzma | Big | 61.8 |
| 10 | 14 | RJ Barrett | Wing | 61.1 |
| 11 | 17 | Jaren Jackson | Big | 58.7 |
| 12 | NR | Kendrick Nunn | Point Guard | 57.6 |
| 13 | 12 | Malik Beasley | Wing | 55.6 |
| 14 | 15 | Bojan Bogdanović | Wing | 55.3 |
| 15 | NR | Patty Mills | Point Guard | 54.8 |
| 16 | 19 | Darius Garland | Point Guard | 53.3 |
| 17 | NR | Jaylen Brown | Wing | 52.2 |
| 18 | 18 | Serge Ibaka | Big | 51.5 |
| 19 | NR | Dennis Schröder | Point Guard | 50.8 |
| 20 | NR | Lauri Markkanen | Big | 49.6 |
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