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Predicting the NBA's Stat Leaders in 2022-23

Plus, another NBA legend wants to get in on the ownership action

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Preseason Wrap-Up: Breaking down last night's showdowns

The Crystal Ball: Predicting the NBA's statistical leaders next season

Hooper to Owner: A new NBA legend wants to enter the ownership fray

Hey, you! Yeah, you reading this newsletter! Are you in NYC? Do you want to meet Kenny and the Enjoy Basketball team? Well, we have just the event for you. 

Kenny and the Enjoy Basketball team are taking over Shopify NYC for an exclusive event on October 28th! We'll be breaking down the future of the brand, discussing the world of content creation, and following it up with a meet-and-greet/Q&A with Kenny. 

To commemorate this exciting event, we'll have a limited supply of exclusive merch. RSVP HERE to secure your spot! 

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Daily Poll

PrizePicks

The NBA season is so tantalizingly close, and one way you can pass the time while spicing up the preseason action is with PrizePicks daily fantasy projections!

‘How does it work?’ you might ask. Well, it’s simple, really, and takes less than 60 seconds. Select 2-5 players, guess if they will get more or less than their PrizePicks projection for a given stat, and submit your predictions. 

Here are our picks from last night's preseason games! How did we do? Let us know and send us your picks with a tag on Twitter @enjoybball.

And we have a slam dunk of a deal for you. Sign up HERE and use promo code ENJOY to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100! With the chance to earn up to 10x your money in less time than it takes to read this newsletter, what are you waiting for?

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Preseason Wrap-up

Thunder 115 Pistons 99: Chet might be out for the year, but OKC's two other first-round picks are looking dangerous. Jalen Williams dropped an efficient 20 points to match his game-high +/- while French phenom Ousmane Dieng was one miss off of a perfect shooting night. Detroit looked rusty (except for Killian Hayes), but the bigger worry is Marvin Bagley III, who hurt his knee early in the game. Prayers up for the big guy 🙏

Bulls 127 Bucks 104: Chicago got the job done against Milwaukee's preseason skeleton crew and looked great while doing it. There were plenty of solid performances, but the man of the hour had to be Andre Drummond. The god of rebounding himself looked like prime Shaq out there, especially on this ridiculous block that has to be seen to be believed.

Spurs 111 Jazz 104: The first annual Victor Wembanyama tank bowl seemed like a blowout before a furious Jazz comeback fell just short. The story of the night: Keldon Johnson (22 PTS, 4/5 3PT). Expect more impressive performances from him, as he'll have an increased role following Dejounte Murray's move to Atlanta.

Warriors 131 Trail Blazers 98: Golden State's bench mob looked phenomenal last night, especially Wiseman and Moody. As for the Blazers ... well, better to get ugly losses out of the way in the preseason, right? And, at the very least, Shaedon Sharpe can do stuff like this.

Magic 109 Grizzlies 105: What a great confidence booster for this feisty Magic squad! Just a quality all-around team effort, but special props have to be given to their starting frontcourt. Franz, Paolo, and Wendell all played magnificently and looked like perfect fits. The future is bright in Florida.

Next Year's Stat Leaders

After a summer of speculation, drama, and rumors, the preseason is finally coming to a close. But it's not too late to get a few more takes out in the open before they can summarily be proven wrong once the regular season basketball starts. Today, we'll attempt the near-impossible task of predicting this season's leader in each key statistical category.

And you know the drill. If we end up being right, make sure to keep the receipts. But, if we're wrong, just act like this never happened. Anyway, let's get into it.

Points: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Despite averaging more than 28 points per game over the past five seasons, the Greek Freak has yet to capture an elusive scoring title. But, conditions might be just right in 2022-23 for Giannis to break through and win the award.

Many of his competitors for the scoring crown will be competing for shots with new star teammates or players returning from injury. Joel Embiid will have to contend with James Harden and rising star Tyrese Maxey. LeBron James will most likely see a dip in his scoring with Anthony Davis back in the rotation. Nikola Jokic will lose shots to the tandem of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., and Trae Young has another all-star guard in Dejounte Murray to take away some of the scoring responsibilities.

Giannis's situation, on the other hand, remains relatively stable compared to last season, when he was just a few points away from winning the award. The Bucks made no major additions in the offseason who would take away shots from Giannis, and many of the Bucks' other main scorers, such as Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton, are on the wrong side of 30 and only getting older.

If Giannis shoulders just a bit more of the offensive load for Milwaukee this season, he has a real shot at breaking the 30-point-per-game barrier and winning his first scoring title. Let's hope we can see more performances like this from him next season!

Rebounds: Domantas Sabonis

The age of Andre Drummond is over, Rudy Gobert is playing next to another seven-footer, and Clint Capela is slowly losing minutes to Onyeka Okongwu.

So, the question is, who could possibly win the rebounding title next season?

Some might point to Jokic, who averaged a career-best 13.8 rebounds per game last season. But look a little deeper, and those numbers probably aren't sustainable. MPJ and Murray will both be returning from injury and are good rebounders for their respective positions, leaving the Joker with a smaller slice of the rebounding pie next season.

But we think the best bet is Sacramento's own Domantas Sabonis. The Lithuanian-American big man has consistently averaged over 12 rebounds per game since making the leap to stardom in 2019-20. The Kings, who finished 26th in total rebounding last season, are in desperate need of his abilities on the glass.

Sacramento may be in the midst of the longest playoff drought in American pro sports, but at least they have Enjoy Basketball's pick for next season's rebounding title.

Obviously, there aren't many fun rebounding highlight mixes floating around on YouTube, so learn a bit more about how Sabonis fits with the Kings in this great film breakdown instead!

Assists: James Harden

Chris Paul may have led the league in assists last season, but the Point God is nearing the twilight of his career on a Suns team that had a shaky offseason, to say the least. Russell Westbrook might be in the conversation, but his role on the Lakers is completely up in the air, and he might not be the same primary playmaker he was in years past.

That leaves us with one great candidate: The Beard himself, James Harden.

Since leaving Houston in the fall of 2020, Harden has remolded himself as a pass-first lead guard, averaging north of ten assists per game over each of the last two seasons. After a full offseason to gel with his new teammates in Philly, the 2017 NBA MVP is primed to have the most successful playmaking season of his career.

Whether it's running the pick and roll with Embiid, kicking it to PJ Tucker in the corner, or dishing it to Tyrese Maxey on the wing, Harden has a bevy of high-efficiency passing options. We think this reinvented version of Harden will make the most of a great situation and win the second assist title of his career. It's about to be scary hours in Philly 😈.

Steals: Gary Trent Jr.

The NBA's had nine different steals leaders over the past nine seasons, so it only makes sense that we'll see a new face atop the leaderboards in 2022-23. And we think that face belongs to none other than Toronto Raptors guard (Scary) Gary Trent Jr.

Trent Jr.'s high-pressing, hyper-aggressive defensive playstyle wasn't as well-suited to Portland's more conservative drop coverage, but he's found considerably more success on a team that prioritizes his skillsets in the Toronto Raptors. If there's one thing Nick Nurse loves more than versatile forwards with long wingspans, it's players who give opposing teams no rest on the defensive end.

Up North, Trent Jr. has the freedom to take more risks both as an on-ball defender and as a menace off-the-ball in passing lanes. The Raptors were rewarded with a breakout year from the 23-year-old guard in 2021-22, when he finished third in steals per game and fourth in deflections while getting plenty of all-defensive shouts along the way.

Alongside Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Fred Van Vleet, Trent Jr. is a key cog in one of the NBA's fiercest defensive cores and is in the perfect environment to rack up steals in bunches.

And speaking as a Blazers fan, we miss you, Gary! Please come back. 😢

Blocks: Myles Turner

I mean, do you all really need an explanation for this one? 

Myles Turner has led the league in blocks per game in two of the last four seasons and would have led the NBA again this year if he had played enough games to qualify. He's an elite rim protector through and through with the perfect blend of physical skills and defensive instincts to block shots by the boatload.

It's his skills as a shot blocker combined with a reliable perimeter game that have made Turner one of the most sought-after assets in the trade market in recent years. A midseason trade could throw an interesting wrinkle into his hunt for the block title, but Turner will most likely have plenty of opportunities to swat some shots wherever he ends up.

That doesn't mean he won't have a bit of competition. The likes of Rudy Gobert, Robert Williams, and Jaren Jackson Jr. (if he can get healthy) are all world-class shot blockers in their own right. But each of them seems to be on a tier below Turner when it comes to pure shot-blocking volume.

If you want a more thorough review of his shot-blocking repertoire, just watch all 118 of his blocks last season back to back to back to back to back to back to back to ... you get the idea.

Shaq Attack

Jordan already owns the Charlotte Hornets, LeBron has publicly expressed his interest in owning an NBA expansion team in Vegas, and now, it's Shaq's turn to get a franchise of his own. 

The 4x NBA champion responded with a cryptic message during an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson on Sunday when asked about his interest in owning an NBA team.

We're probably all thinking the same thing right now: "Shaq, what the heck does that mean?"

He played high school ball in San Antonio. He went to school in LSU right down the road from New Orleans. He started his career in Orlando. He had his best years in LA. He won another ring in Miami, not to mention his stints in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Boston. Home could be nearly half of the teams in the league for Shaq, and I think he knows that.

So if he won't give us a straight answer, let's put it to a poll ourselves. Which NBA team do you want Shaq to become an owner of?

Good Reads

Zion Williamson 2.0: Inside the ‘Dark Days’ That Sparked the NBA Star’s Stunning Transformation - Howard Beck (Sports Illustrated)

For one referee, path from Korea to the NBA wasn't easy - Tim Reynolds (NBA.com)

B/R Predicts Top 25 Guards for 2022-23 NBA Season - Bleacher Report Staff (Bleacher Report)

Signing Off

Thanks for reading another edition of our humble newsletter! Keep tuning in, because we're so excited to show you what we have in store for this season.

Make sure to Enjoy™ the rest of your week, and see you all again on Friday.

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: Before Jaden Ivey, the last player from Purdue University to go in the top five in an NBA draft was Glenn Robinson, who went first overall to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1994.

Trivia Question: After a long and arduous offseason, opening night is right around the corner! Let us know: who holds the record for most points scored in an opening night game?

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