With just 24 games left in the regular season, Giannis Antetokounmpo is on pace to break the all-time single season Player Efficiency Rating record (PER), which was set back in 1963 by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain.
This regular season, according to Basketball Reference, Antetokounmpo currently has a rating of 31.94. Which is slightly above Chamberlain’s historic season back in 1962 when he managed to finish with a rating of 31.82.
The reigning MVP is averaging 29.7 points per game, 11.3 defensive rebounds a game, while shooting 58 percent from the field.
PER is a single statistical number that attempts to combine every major relevant statistical contribution a player makes.
It was developed by former ESPN statistician John Hollinger back in the mid-1990s.
According to Basketball Reference, Hollinger himself said: “The PER sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance.”
The formula for PER is very complex and includes both positive statistics that a player makes like field goals made to negative statistics like turnovers.
According to Basketball Insider analyst Ben Dowsett, 15.0 PER is the baseline against which all of the players stack up. Anyone above 20.0 PER is approaching star status while a PER of anything below 10 is considered a below average player.
However, PER is not considered a perfect measure by any means. It is an excellent way to measure a player’s overall efficiency on the court. And traditionally speaking, NBA history has indicated this to be true.
When Stephen Curry was shooting threes from virtually anywhere on the court back in 2015, while also becoming the leagues first Unanimous MVP winner that same year, he managed to secure a rating of 31.46.
In 2008, LeBron James dominated the league that regular season, with 30 points per game, 7.7 assists a game, while also shooting 48 percent from the field. He ended with a rating of 31.67.
Michael Jordan ended his 1987 season with a rating of 31.71. A season where he averaged 37 points per game, shot 48 percent from the field, while making an impact defensively with 2.9 steals a game.
Historically, Jordan has the highest PER for an individual’s career. Maintaining a PER of 27.91 across 15 seasons. In year 17, James is right behind him with a career PER of 27.51.
These examples should put Antetokounmpo’s historic season into perspective. He has a PER that slightly edges these all-time seasons and it shouldn’t go unnoticed. The crazy thing is that he is only getting better.
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