In the NBA, some players dominate the ball for their teams. Entire offenses are built around them, and their teams have varying levels of success. James Harden was a one-man show like with the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks do a lot like that now with Luka Doncic.
Given the injuries the New York Knicks have faced this season, their point guard, Jalen Brunson, has been put in a similar position at times. The entire game plan for the opponents is to slow him down, forcing him to give the ball away to his teammates.
This led to Brunson having the ball in his hands an incredible amount of time per game. He is the team’s offensive fulcrum, using a variety of dribbling moves to get to his spots on the court for easy baskets or draw opponents’ attention and find his teammates for open shots.
In turn, this has led to Brunson leading the NBA in attractive stats this season. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, via Knicks Nation on X, Brunson is averaging 480 dribbles per game this season, which is leading the NBA.
This is an interesting stat because it would tend to give the impression that the ball is in Brunson’s hands for too long and that the team is too reliant on him to get into the action. But if you watch the Knicks play, that’s not the case.