Executive Summary

In the NBA, players are conventionally classified into five specific positions: Center, Power Forward, Point Guard, Small Forward, and Shooting Guard. This categorization serves as a foundation for conducting analyses involving variables like age and payroll. Our investigation will encompass an examination of player age over a defined period, assessing its potential impact on their average performance metrics (points, assists, and rebounds). Additionally, we will explore rookie performance, season trends, team dynamics, and payroll distribution.

Basketball Positions
Source of Data

The NBA Players dataset was sourced from Kaggle, which serves as a secondary source containing summary data gathered from Basketball References. In addition to this, we have gathered supplementary data to augment our original dataset in pursuit of the specific insights we seek.

Career Longevity


Career Longevity: What is the average career length of NBA players during this period? Are there differences in career lengths between players in different positions?

Analyzing the box plot Career Duration Across Positions it is evident that Centers tend to have the longest average careers compared to other positions. Additionally, there is a slight decrease in career length when moving from left to right across the positions.

Age and Performace


Age and Performance: How does the average performance (points, assists, rebounds) change with players’ age? Are there players who continued to excel at an older age?

I have filtered players who have been actively playing for 10 years within the age range of 20 to 30. Subsequently, I calculated regression equations to assess the correlation between age and the variables of interest, namely points, assists, and rebounds. This will help determine if there is a positive or negative relationship between these metrics and age.

All seem to have a positive correlation even though its only a slight increase.


Average Points


## The equation of the fitted line is: y = 7.87 + 0.01 * x

Average Assists


## The equation of the fitted line is: y = 0.8 + 0.04 * x

Average Rebounds


## The equation of the fitted line is: y = 3.01 + 0.02 * x

Rookie Impact:


What is the average performance of rookie players compared to players in their prime years? Are there rookies who had an exceptional impact on their teams?
Displaying the Top Average Performaces by Draft Year
player_name team_abbreviation draft_year pts reb ast season
Derrick Coleman PHI 1990 18.1 10.1 3.4 1996-97
Glenn Robinson MIL 1994 21.1 6.3 3.1 1996-97
Hakeem Olajuwon HOU 1984 23.2 9.2 3.0 1996-97
Allen Iverson PHI 1996 23.5 4.1 7.5 1996-97
Danny Manning PHX 1988 13.5 6.1 2.2 1996-97
David Robinson SAS 1987 17.7 8.5 1.3 1996-97
Chris Webber WAS 1993 20.1 10.3 4.6 1996-97
Shaquille O’Neal LAL 1992 26.2 12.5 3.1 1996-97
Larry Johnson NYK 1991 12.8 5.2 2.3 1996-97
Joe Smith GSW 1995 18.7 8.5 1.6 1996-97


Postional Analysis 2019-20


Positional Analysis: Which positions (guard, forward, center) have the highest average points, rebounds, and assists per game?

Points


Rebounds


Assists


Contract Analysis


Contract Analysis: How has the average salary of NBA players changed over the years? Are there players who are highly paid but have relatively low performance?

Payroll of Players

Payroll_Year Player outlier
2017-18 LeBron James 33285709
2017-18 Stephen Curry 34682550
2018-19 Chris Paul 35654150
2018-19 Stephen Curry 37457154
2019-20 Chris Paul 38506482
2019-20 Kevin Durant 37199000
2019-20 Stephen Curry 40231758
2020-21 Chris Paul 41358814
2020-21 Kevin Durant 40108950
2020-21 Stephen Curry 43006362

Payroll and Performances


2019 All-Star Selections


All-Star Selections: Which players were selected as All-Stars in the most seasons during this period? Is there a correlation between All-Star selections and performance metrics?

Points

Rebounds

Assists