NBA Small Sample Size Awards

We’re recognizing some of the most fun early season trends in the NBA season, with some Small Sample Size Awards.

“It’s a small sample size, you can’t draw any conclusions from these games!”

How many times have you heard that while listening to a talking head on television or from a guest interrupting your favorite podcast host? The NBA season has finished its first month, and for most teams, they’ve completed 10 percent of the regular season. While it may seem like an insignificant number of games, for a handful of teams, a loss in October could be the difference between playing Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs at home or having to travel 2,000 miles to play in front of a hostile crowd. An upset win over a playoff team could be the difference between the first overall pick and the sixth overall pick.

At the end of the season, we’re going to see several of the same names in the award discussion. Steph Curry is going to make a ton of 3-pointers, Rudy Gobert is going to have a lot of blocks per game, the Spurs will win 40 games, and Kyrie Irving is going to have the best dribble-drive highlight of the season. But after one month, there are some names leading categories that may surprise you.

Which players are leading the league in scoring? Which big men are making their free throws? Which team has gone on a hot streak and has a top offense? Which team has made an effort to share the basketball more than their peers? Are any of these starts, or is anything possible when the season is this young?

With that frame of mind established, where nothing is true and everything is permitted, let’s reveal the small sample size theater awards.

(All stats courtesy of NBA Stats and Basketball-Reference)