In the NBA, there are often some statistical facts that end up surprising fans. However, there are explanations that make sense and can generally explain why the numbers for certain players ended up the way they did.
For example, Andrew Wiggins is known as a good player but not a top-tier scorer currently. However, an NBA fan has recently revealed that he has more career points than superstar Kawhi Leonard. Of course, that is shocking at first glance because the two players are not on the same level, and Kawhi Leonard is older. But as the fan mentions, “this stat isn’t that surprising with context”.
Andrew Wiggins (11,519 PTS) has more career points than Kawhi Leonard (11,085 PTS)
Kawhi is 4 years older than Wiggins but this stat isn’t that surprising with context as Kawhi
• Played behind the Spurs dynasty early on • Entered the league as a pure defender and then grew into a two way player • Never played the full 82 games of a season
Things were quite the opposite for Wiggins as he
• Was always a starter • Entered the league as a scorer and put up “empty stats” on a bad team • Played multiple full seasons
I think the roles have been reversed for Leonard, Wiggins and their respective teams.
Kawhi realized his scoring potential and Andrew realized his defensive potential and strength on the boards.
There is no doubt that the fan’s reasoning for why Andrew Wiggins has more career points than Kawhi Leonard makes sense. Andrew Wiggins has been very durable throughout his career and was in a situation that allowed him to have a high usage rate and score a lot earlier in his career. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard is not as durable and had to work his way up from being a role player to being a superstar, once even being considered a “system player”.
Hopefully, we see both players do well next year. Both Andrew Wiggins and Kawhi Leonard should be on contending teams next year, and perhaps we’ll see them face one another in the playoffs.
