NBA Pareto-Efficient Performances

The term Pareto efficiency comes from the study of economies, or players in those economies, and looks at whether resources (goods, income, welfare) are ‘optimally’ distributed. In a Pareto-optimal situation, no redistribution of resources makes an individual better off without making another worse off.

In a 2018 article at FiveThirtyEight, Neil Paine and Andrea Jones-Rooy identified a use for this in the world of sports. They’re much better writers than I, so I’ll let them explain:

“Pareto optimality is helpful for thinking about how to get the most value in a situation that requires trade-offs. For example, if you're buying a car and you want to maximize size and speed, you could start by ruling out any car that is both smaller and slower than at least one other car. The remaining cars would be maximized for size, maximized for speed, or have a balance of the two qualities, where the cars couldn't get any bigger without also getting slower, or couldn't get any faster without also getting smaller. When you can't gain in one quality without sacrificing another, that's called the Pareto frontier.

We can use the principle of Pareto optimality to analyze basketball players' performance. Rather than thinking about size and speed, we can think about stats — specifically points, assists and rebounds. A player has a Pareto game if no other player has ever posted better numbers in all three stats in a single game.”

Neil and Andrea, after witnessing James Harden’s exceptional 60-10-11 performance vs. Orlando, scoured past performances and constructed the Pareto frontier to identify where Harden fell all-time. They found that Harden was indeed on the Pareto frontier of all PTS x REB x AST combos - that is, no player had scored more points and recorded more assists andgrabbed more boards in the same game.

After a pair of equally impressive performances (Luka’s 60-21-10, Donovan Mitchell’s 71-8-11), I felt it was time to update their analysis and re-establish the Pareto frontier.

To do this, I used Alex Bresler’s R package {nbastatR} to grab all player game logs going back to 1950, and calculated the Pareto frontier for PTS x REB x AST using the {rPref} package.

Behold: a list!

Pareto Efficient Performances
Points x Rebounds x Assists
Date Team Opponent Player PTS REB AST Total Things
December 8, 1961 LAL PHW Elgin Baylor 63 31 7 101
March 28, 1990 CHI CLE Michael Jordan 69 18 6 93
December 27, 2022 DAL NYK Luka Doncic 60 21 10 91
April 24, 1994 SAN LAC David Robinson 71 14 5 90
January 2, 2023 CLE CHI Donovan Mitchell 71 8 11 90
November 8, 1959 MNL BOS Elgin Baylor 64 17 8 89
December 31, 2016 HOU NYK James Harden 53 16 17 86
March 26, 1974 GOS POR Rick Barry 64 10 9 83
March 11, 1965 BOS DET Bill Russell 27 49 6 82
March 29, 2017 OKC ORL Russell Westbrook 57 13 11 81
January 30, 2018 HOU ORL James Harden 60 10 11 81
February 5, 1960 BOS SYR Bill Russell 23 51 5 79
December 18, 1964 CIN LAL Oscar Robertson 56 9 12 77
January 14, 1956 ROC SYR Maurice Stokes 26 38 12 76
February 13, 1962 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 42 15 18 75
November 26, 2018 HOU WAS James Harden 54 8 13 75
March 5, 1966 CIN NYK Oscar Robertson 44 8 22 74
January 3, 2022 ATL POR Trae Young 56 4 14 74
February 19, 1961 CIN LAL Oscar Robertson 43 9 20 72
March 29, 2021 WAS IND Russell Westbrook 35 14 21 70
January 11, 1962 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 38 12 19 69
February 10, 1962 CIN STL Oscar Robertson 32 21 16 69
February 19, 1963 CIN BOS Oscar Robertson 35 17 17 69
August 8, 2020 DAL MIL Luka Doncic 36 14 19 69
December 11, 1961 CIN CHP Oscar Robertson 32 15 20 67
February 27, 1959 BOS MNL Bob Cousy 31 5 28 64
January 10, 2019 OKC SAS Russell Westbrook 24 13 24 61
October 26, 1962 SFW DET Guy Rodgers 23 20 17 60
October 29, 1961 CIN SYR Oscar Robertson 26 11 22 59
November 21, 1961 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 25 16 18 59
February 7, 1985 DET WAS Isiah Thomas 25 10 24 59
December 17, 2016 OKC PHX Russell Westbrook 26 11 22 59
May 3, 2021 WAS IND Russell Westbrook 14 21 24 59
December 30, 1990 ORL DEN Scott Skiles 22 6 30 58
January 1, 1974 BUF POR Ernie DiGregorio 20 9 25 54
Source: Alex Bresler's {nbastatR}

If you’re paying attention, you might notice a name missing - the reason being, it appears a whopping 25 times (out of 59) and makes for a boring scroll.

But nothing about this player was boring, and we might as well name the stat after him, given his dominance even relative to the other dominant players on the frontier.

Wilt Chamberlain is remembered for his 100-point game, his long frame and huge rebound totals, and his otherwordly athleticism. But many might forget that as he developed as a player, he became an outstanding passer. Had he not, his name wouldn’t be on this list 25 times.

Luka’s on a fast track to NBA greatness but is unlikely to ever unseat Wilt from the Pareto frontier. He can score, he can rebound, and he can definitely rack up assists, but he’d have to do all three at historic levels and in the same game - then do that 24 more times.

Full list of Pareto efficient performances (PTS, REB, AST) below:

Pareto Efficient Performances (PEPs)
Points x Rebounds x Assists
Date Team Opponent Player PTS REB AST Total Things
March 2, 1962 PHW NYK Wilt Chamberlain 100 25 2 127
December 8, 1961 PHW LAL Wilt Chamberlain 78 43 1 122
January 25, 1960 PHW DET Wilt Chamberlain 58 42 4 104
December 16, 1967 PHL CHI Wilt Chamberlain 68 34 2 104
March 3, 1966 PHL SFW Wilt Chamberlain 62 37 3 102
January 21, 1961 PHW LAL Wilt Chamberlain 56 45 0 101
December 8, 1961 LAL PHW Elgin Baylor 63 31 7 101
October 30, 1962 SFW NYK Wilt Chamberlain 59 35 6 100
March 18, 1968 PHL LAL Wilt Chamberlain 53 32 14 99
November 26, 1964 SFW PHL Wilt Chamberlain 63 32 3 98
December 20, 1967 PHL SEA Wilt Chamberlain 53 38 6 97
February 9, 1969 LAL PHX Wilt Chamberlain 66 27 4 97
November 24, 1960 PHW BOS Wilt Chamberlain 34 55 4 93
March 28, 1990 CHI CLE Michael Jordan 69 18 6 93
February 6, 1960 PHW SYR Wilt Chamberlain 44 45 3 92
March 10, 1963 SFW SYR Wilt Chamberlain 70 18 3 91
December 27, 2022 DAL NYK Luka Doncic 60 21 10 91
April 24, 1994 SAN LAC David Robinson 71 14 5 90
January 2, 2023 CLE CHI Donovan Mitchell 71 8 11 90
November 8, 1959 MNL BOS Elgin Baylor 64 17 8 89
November 29, 1960 PHW LAL Wilt Chamberlain 44 38 7 89
March 3, 1963 SFW CIN Wilt Chamberlain 45 33 10 88
November 10, 1959 PHW NYK Wilt Chamberlain 39 43 4 86
January 13, 1960 PHW SYR Wilt Chamberlain 42 39 5 86
December 31, 2016 HOU NYK James Harden 53 16 17 86
January 14, 1966 PHL BOS Wilt Chamberlain 37 42 6 85
March 26, 1974 GOS POR Rick Barry 64 10 9 83
March 11, 1965 BOS DET Bill Russell 27 49 6 82
March 29, 2017 OKC ORL Russell Westbrook 57 13 11 81
January 30, 2018 HOU ORL James Harden 60 10 11 81
February 5, 1960 BOS SYR Bill Russell 23 51 5 79
March 6, 1965 PHL BOS Wilt Chamberlain 27 43 8 78
December 18, 1964 CIN LAL Oscar Robertson 56 9 12 77
January 14, 1956 ROC SYR Maurice Stokes 26 38 12 76
February 13, 1962 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 42 15 18 75
March 2, 1967 PHL SFW Wilt Chamberlain 24 38 13 75
November 26, 2018 HOU WAS James Harden 54 8 13 75
March 5, 1966 CIN NYK Oscar Robertson 44 8 22 74
February 14, 1968 PHL SEA Wilt Chamberlain 35 24 15 74
January 3, 2022 ATL POR Trae Young 56 4 14 74
February 28, 1967 PHL CIN Wilt Chamberlain 28 36 9 73
February 19, 1961 CIN LAL Oscar Robertson 43 9 20 72
March 29, 2021 WAS IND Russell Westbrook 35 14 21 70
January 11, 1962 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 38 12 19 69
February 10, 1962 CIN STL Oscar Robertson 32 21 16 69
February 19, 1963 CIN BOS Oscar Robertson 35 17 17 69
August 8, 2020 DAL MIL Luka Doncic 36 14 19 69
February 2, 1968 PHL DET Wilt Chamberlain 22 25 21 68
March 19, 1968 PHL CIN Wilt Chamberlain 22 27 19 68
December 11, 1961 CIN CHP Oscar Robertson 32 15 20 67
February 27, 1959 BOS MNL Bob Cousy 31 5 28 64
January 10, 2019 OKC SAS Russell Westbrook 24 13 24 61
October 26, 1962 SFW DET Guy Rodgers 23 20 17 60
October 29, 1961 CIN SYR Oscar Robertson 26 11 22 59
November 21, 1961 CIN PHW Oscar Robertson 25 16 18 59
February 7, 1985 DET WAS Isiah Thomas 25 10 24 59
December 17, 2016 OKC PHX Russell Westbrook 26 11 22 59
May 3, 2021 WAS IND Russell Westbrook 14 21 24 59
December 30, 1990 ORL DEN Scott Skiles 22 6 30 58
January 1, 1974 BUF POR Ernie DiGregorio 20 9 25 54
Source: Alex Bresler's {nbastatR}

Thank you for reading!

Colin at Catalyst Data Science

@catalystdatasci on Twitter