LeBron, Jokic and others. Five NBA records broken this season

The new season is rapidly gaining momentum in the world’s strongest basketball league. The teams have only played a dozen games each and they have very interesting tournament plans and trends. Of course, this is just the start of the season, and it’s still too early to talk definitively about the NBA’s favorites and outsiders. However, we can already say that in an incomplete game month, a number of records have been rewritten, both in individual franchise histories and in the annals of the League as a whole. Updated achievements in the most spectacular basketball tournament will be discussed in this material.

Record Maximum number of foreign players in teams’ applications before the start of Season 1

The first NBA record this season had been broken even before the opening game in the first game. Prior to the start of the championship, the Overseas League issued a detailed press release and noted, among other things, that 120 foreign players were included in the teams’ submissions at the start of the 2022/2023 championship. And that figure is the highest in NBA history.

Legionnaire basketball players represent forty countries and six continents of our planet, countries such as Canada (twenty-two players), Australia (ten players) and Nigeria (five players) have updated their personal records. Of course, Canada’s and its basketball players’ foreign status is controversial because the Toronto Raptors are present in the League, but that’s how NBA officials viewed it. Also, all thirty teams have at least one foreign player. By the way, this is the ninth consecutive season in which more than a hundred basketball players from other countries have participated in the tournament.

It is good that Ukrainian basketball has a hand in this success. And let Aleksey Len and Svyatoslav Mikhailyuk be deep backups for the Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks, respectively, but not all basketball countries can boast of two representatives in the strongest league in the world.

Record 2. LeBron James – Most games in history with 20+ points

What would NBA records be without LeBron James? Thus, at the start of the new championship, the King was marked by a truly royal feat. In Game 5 of the 2022/2023 season for the current Los Angeles Lakers team, LeBron posted 28 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves ring. The Lakers lost the game itself, but for James that game was 1135 total and he scored twenty or more points.

Thus, one of the best basketball players in NBA history took the lead by far, bypassing another legend, Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone, on the summary table for this indicator. Note that among players who continue an active career, LeBron’s closest follower is Kevin Durant (804 games, eighth overall). Therefore, it seems that the King may not worry about this part of his historical legacy.

Record 3. Nikola Jokic, leader in triple-double among centers

After Nikola Jokic showed himself fully in the League, many of the top achievements for centers were under threat (the NBA keeps records of statistical nominations for individual positions). Serbian tall man is already very diverse. And one of these records was updated at the beginning of the 2022/2023 season.

In the away game against Oklahoma, the Denver Nuggets’ home center was unstoppable. In less than thirty-six minutes on the court, Jokic finished a stylish triple-double (15 points + 13 rebounds + 14 assists). He became the seventy-ninth in Nikola’s career and, by this indicator, bypassed the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, who has seventy-eight. Now the Serbian center is the only center in NBA history to have a triple-double.

It’s worth noting that Nikola Jokic’s career triple-double number is now a clean sixth in the overall summary table. He is ahead of LeBron James (105), Jason Kidd (107), Magic Johnson (138), Oscar Robertson (181) and Russell Westbrook (194). Balkan could rise even higher on this list, considering only LeBron and Russell Oostbrook remain active performers.

Record 4. Udonis Haslem, first undrafted player to spend twenty seasons in the NBA

If you expect historic feats from LeBron James and Nikola Jokic in every fight, our next record holder doesn’t belong to the strongest players in the NBA, but that didn’t stop him from setting an unparalleled record. Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem extended his contract with the club over the summer, making his long-time debut against Portland on October 27. Despite only spending 136 seconds on the court, that didn’t stop Udonis from becoming the first undrafted player to start his twentieth season in the League.

Twenty seasons in the NBA – such a figure deserves respect in itself. Far from every star in the league, he bowed. And for an unprepared player, such a time period seems utterly cosmic. In the 2002 draft, not a single club paid attention to Haslem and went to play in Europe, where he spent the season as part of the best French Chalons. He seemed doomed to hundreds of his compatriots who couldn’t make it to the NBA and went to travel the world, but after the 2002/2003 season he managed to catch the attention of the big guy scouts and the Miami Heat. coaching staff.

In Florida, the future record holder started his new 2003/2004 championship and remained in one of the sunniest states for the next two decades. During this time, Haslem won three championship rings in the NBA (2006, 2012, 2013) and was a crucial game element during the “big three” (LeBron James – Chris Bosh – Dwyane Wade) in Miami.

Today, Udonis Haslem (he turned 42 in June for a second!!) is a deep substitute for his club, but his benefit to the team does not appear in the statistical protocol. One of the leaders of the veteran locker room, a true mentor to young players, he participates in club-organized social events and demonstrates his importance to the Miami Heat in other ways. After the end of his acting career, Haslem will no doubt continue to work in the team structure he has been in every twenty years.

Record #5. Ish Smith, the first basketball player to play for thirteen different teams in the NBA

The world’s strongest basketball league has recognized many pilgrims, but Denver Nuggets (and still Denver Nuggets) defender Ish Smith has passed them all. The team, made up of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, ranked Charlotte thirteenth during her career in the NBA. Thus, Ish Smith became the only basketball player in League history to attempt a dozen franchise forms.

The famous Wake Forest College graduate laid the foundation for his truly outstanding success early in his performances in the NBA. Starting with the 2010/2011 season (his career first Smith) and the 2014/2015 championship, he changed nine teams simultaneously (Houston, Memphis, Golden State, Orlando, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Oklahoma, Philadelphia, New Orleans). ). Then there was a second visit to Philadelphia and even an entire season in that city, and after that there was a period of relative stability with the Detroit Pistons that included three full years (the biggest indicator of time spent at a club in Ish’s career). ) and two seasons in “Washington”. And then it all started again, “Charlotte”, “Washington” again, now “Denver”.

Before our record holder moved to the Colorado state capital, leadership in team tourism in the NBA was held by five players at once. This list included Tony Massenburg, Joe Smith, Chucky Brown, Jim Jackson, and indeed Ish Smith. Now he has outstripped his rivals, and considering Smith is now thirty-four years old, he may well update his own success.

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These records are far from the only significant event in the new NBA season. In less than a month of the tournament, many achievements have been updated in the individual franchise annals. The Milwaukee Bucks, for example, had their best start in history with a 9-0 win-lose record. Also, no one can beat the excellent form of Luka Doncic, who has scored thirty or more points per game for nine consecutive games at the start of the season and has already surpassed Michael Jordan himself in this indicator. Wilt Chamberlain’s success in the 1962/1963 season (23 games in a row with 30+ points at the start of the championship) does not allow Slovenia to achieve another outstanding achievement.

That’s why the NBA never ceases to delight and surprise basketball fans on all continents. It remains only to closely follow the events in the strongest league in the world, because literally every day gives something interesting to the fans of the orange ball.