Handicapping the race for the NBA scoring title
By Connor Learn
Handicapping the race for the NBA scoring title and looking at who should be the favorite to lead the league in scoring this year.
Winning the NBA scoring title is a prestigious honor. The scoring leader will forever be enshrined in the record books. Fans for years will be able to see who the most unstoppable scoring threat was in the 2016-2017 NBA season based on the results of this race.
Every single eligible NBA scoring leader is currently in the NBA Hall of Fame. It takes a lot of skill to lead the NBA in scoring in a season, and we are in a time where there is a lot of immensely talented players.
Because of this, this scoring race is shaping up to be a good one. These are the current leaders entering Friday night’s games:
- Anthony Davis 32.1 PPG
- Russell Westbrook 31.2 PPG
- Demar Derozan 28.9 PPG
- James Harden 28.7 PPG
- Demarcus Cousins 28.7 PPG
- Damian Lillard 28.2 PPG
- Kevin Durant 27.7 PPG
- Stephen Curry 26.7 PPG
- Isaiah Thomas 26.1 PPG
- Jimmy Butler 25.6 PPG
As the season goes on, this list will be subject to change but there is enough to establish favorites for who ends up the scoring champion at the end of the year and we handicap that race.
5. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
Damian Lillard gets the nod for fifth best odds over Demar Derozan because he’s been scoring more of late. (Derozan is averaging 24.8 PPG in his last 10) Lillard has increased his scoring in each of his first four years and is set to do the same in year five. His current average of 28.2 points nightly will blow out his previous average of 25.1.
The Portland Trail Blazers are largely dependent on guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum to generate offense. The young franchise cornerstones rank third and seventh in the league in field goal attempts. Portland currently allows the second-most points in the league and plays at the eighth-fastest pace; they play in a lot of shootouts. Though Al-Farouq Aminu should help the Trail Blazers when he returns, this should be the case all season.
Damian Lillard ranks seventh in the league in usage rate. That type of usage over his 35.6 minutes per game is occurring in one of the friendliest situations in the league for a scorer. Rotogrinders statistics have Lillard leading the league in touches per game. It’s not hard to see why Lillard is among the league’s scoring leaders.
Odds of leading the league in scoring: 8/1