Who has a shot at breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s most bizarre record?
By Miles Wray
One of the most difficult-to-break records in NBA history belongs to Wilt Chamberlain. No surprise there. When this record is one day broken, though, it won’t necessarily be a Hall of Fame-level player who does it. I’m talking about: for Chamberlain’s entire career — all 1,205 regular season and postseason games — he never once fouled out.
Is this record pointless? Maybe. Did Chamberlain maybe even hurt his own team by consciously chasing this record, resorting to matador-style defense once he got into foul trouble, as Bill Simmons chastised him for in The Book of Basketball? Yeah, that also sounds right. Still, there are players today who have a chance — a miniscule chance, but a chance — at uprooting The Slilt in the record books. That is not nothing!
Believe it or not, Chamberlain was very nearly knocked off of this obscure throne in just the last decade. Mr. Jamal Crawford has actually played more NBA games than Chamberlain, 1,251, and has fouled out exactly once, in a first-round playoff loss back in 2010. This is a perfect illustration of the perils of chasing this record: that one slip-up and boom, Crawford is eliminated from contention for the rest of his days. You have to stay perfect from debut to retirement press conference.
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One thing I wondered was, could a player effectively cheat their way into this record by being a career role player, with a low minutes per game average? After all, Chamberlain was clocking in well over 40 minutes per game, giving him a ton of opportunities to collect fouls each night.
It turns out, this isn’t really an issue. Just last season, we saw 46 foul-outs that took 20 minutes or less, including three apiece from Noah Vonleh and Alex Len, and two apiece from guards Andrew Harrison and Kris Dunn. Foul-outs can come for anybody at any time.
Mad, mad respect to Shannon Brown (463 career games), Steve Novak (489) and Ronnie Brewer (549), who have never fouled out. Brewer’s feat is even more remarkable considering his excellent defense, which, as we’ll see, does not help you get on this list. However, it looks like all three of these players have reached the end of their NBA road, and we’re looking for guys who could still, in theory, rack up more career games than Chamberlain. Here are the five active players with the most career games and 0 foul-outs to their name:
5. Derrick Williams: 434 games
The only forward on this list, Williams has spent most of his career with teams — Knicks, Kings, circa-2011 Timberwolves — who have not exactly played aggressive defense. Williams set a career high in fouls per minute last year after spending half the season with the Heat, a top-five defense. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that Williams asked to be waived in February, and landed with the defensively relaxed Cavaliers.
Williams is immediately trailed by Cavalier teammate Kyrie Irving, who has played exactly one fewer game than Williams so far. Irving’s style of, uh, defense plus his potential for longevity means that he may actually be the player with the best shot at the record.
4. Jodie Meeks: 474 games
Meeks may be the ultimate player in foul avoidance. Somehow, Meeks only has two career games where he’s hit five fouls, with the last one coming in 2013. Unfortunately, Meeks’ poor health — only 40 games played over the last two years — means that he’s unlikely to play enough total games.
3. Patty Mills: 519 games
Mills’ chances at overtaking Chamberlain took a huge boost this summer when he re-signed with the Spurs. Gregg Popovich is the ultimate preacher of foul avoidance. Since Popovich started coaching San Antonio in 1996-97, the Spurs have committed way less fouls per game than any other team.
2. Danny Green: 565 games
Booyah, another career Spur. Green’s presence here is even more impressive since he’s the only player in this group with a positive career number in Defensive Box Plus-Minus. With a $10 million player option for 2018-19, Green faces a huge decision next summer about the ultimate fate of his record chase.
1. Ramon Sessions: 685 games
I am rooting wildly, now, for Sessions to somehow find his way past Chamberlain. The big obstacle here is definitely getting Sessions to very nearly double his number of career games played, and he’s just turned 30 and had a team option for next year turned down by the Hornets. Sessions has definitely been hurt by appearing in just 22 career playoff games, although he has collected an ultra-rare 83-game season. That one extra game really helped.
Fortunately, there is a path forward for Sessions: imitate Andre Miller as much as possible. Miller finished with 16 career foul-outs, but he appeared in 1,356 career games — way more than Chamberlain — and played in more than half of those games after his 30th birthday.
Somebody, please sign Ramon Sessions. We quickly need to reinvent his reputation as the ultimately reliable old-man-style point guard, and knock Chamberlain off his perch once and for all.
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Note on research: I compared Basketball-Reference’s list of career games played to the list of games finished with five fouls or less. Players with the same number of games on both charts have never fouled out.