10 Luckiest NBA Numbers: #23 Places Fourth
- New research places LeBron James’s #23 jersey as the fourth luckiest number in the NBA
- The luckiest numbers in the NBA, in order, are: 77, 0, 11, 23, 35, 13, 30, 3, 2, and 1
- Jersey numbers of stars including Luca Dončić, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jason Tatum, all make the top ten
A new study by NBA experts Fadeaway World analyzed point-scoring data from the 2012-2013 season onward to identify the jersey numbers with the highest average Points Per Game (PPG) in the modern NBA.
- #77 – 15.4PPG
Dallas Maverick’s Luka Dončić, has given the 77 jersey the title of the top-scoring jersey in the NBA. While five players rep the number in the league today, before Luka’s ‘18-’19 debut, and within the years analyzed, the average PPG scored wearing this number was only ever below 10. In fact in ‘16-’17, not a single player in the league donned the 77. The season that Luka put it on, the jersey’s average flew up to 14.26. In the seasons since, the average PPG scored in the number 77 has remained over 20.0, reaching a high in the ‘22-’23 season, of 29.04, thanks to Luka’s 32.4PG.
- #0 – 13.52PPG
Jason Tatum, Tyrese Maxey, Damian Lillard, Miles Bridges, and Tyrese Haliburton have all worn the 0 jersey this season, and average over 20PPG doing so. 20 other players sport the number this season. Its lowest average PPG of 11.77 in the study was in the ‘12-’13 season, and it has since remained above that figure, reaching a high in ‘18-19 of 15.32. In the ‘16-’17, and ‘17-’18 seasons, it was the second-highest averaging jersey number, thanks particularly to Lillard’s 27.0 and 26.9PPG with the Portland Trailblazers in those seasons, and Russell Westbrook’s ‘16-’17 league-topping 29.6 and the following year’s 25.4PPG season, both with Oklahoma City Thunder.
- #11 – 13.59PPG
The number 11 has been in the top ten jerseys for PPG for nine seasons since ’12-’13. Jalen Brunson, Trae Young, Kyrie Irving, and DeMar DeRozan, all of whom are averaging over 23.0PPG, can be seen wearing the number this season. In each of the past 12 seasons, PPG in number 11 has averaged between 11.03 and 14.35. In ‘14-’15 Klay Thompson averaged 21.7 in the jersey, before averaging 22.1 the following season to help the jersey become the fifth ranking in PPG in both of these seasons.
- #23 – 12.22PPG
The jersey of the two most popular candidates for greatest of all time ranks in fourth. With this study analyzing the days after those of MJ, it is LeBron James who takes much credit for the great success in the number 23. In the ‘14-’15 season, James and his now teammate Anthony Davis were both repping 23, they averaged the third and fourth-highest PPGs in the league that season, at 25.3 and 24.4, respectively. At the time the pair were at separate franchises of Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans. Unbelievably, three seasons later, the pair flipped positions in the rankings, Davis taking second, and James taking third in the league for PPG average. In both of these seasons, 23 was the jersey with the highest average PPG.
- #35 – 12.20PPG
Veteran baller, Kevin Durant, is far the most notable contributor to the number 35 jersey’s 12.20PPG on average in these years. In the ‘12-’13 and ‘13-’14 seasons, the average PPG scored in the jersey was the highest in the NBA. In these seasons, KD was the second-highest, and then the highest PPG-averaging player in the league, both of which he spent at OKC.
- #13 – 12.15PPG
This season, Paul George, Jaren Jackson, and Bam Adebayo can all be seen in the 13 jersey. During the time period studied, it’s George and James Harden’s points scored in the number that have contributed most greatly to its overall PPG. ‘16-’17 season saw Harden as the league’s second-highest averaging player, while George was 15th, in this season, jersey number 13 scored the fifth-highest average PPG. Again in the ‘19-’20 season, the jersey placed fifth-highest in the league, a season in which Harden was the top-averaging player.
- #30 – 11.81PPG
Steve Curry’s number 30 jersey ranks as the NBA’s seventh luckiest. Having donned the number in all of the last 12 seasons for Golden State Warriors, Curry has helped to keep it in the top 20 average-scoring jerseys in each of them. Since the ‘14-’15 season, he has had notable help from Julius Randle. In the ‘20-’21 season, the jersey ranked as the league’s second-highest average, much thanks to Steph’s NBA-topping average of 32.0.
- #3 – 11.67PPG
The number 3 is worn this season by Anthony Davis, Bradley Beal, and CJ McCollum, and is the eighth luckiest of the modern NBA. In the ‘22-’23 season, it was the third-highest-averaging jersey, thanks to the aforementioned players who all finished in the top 45 for average PPG, and the scoring of 22 others who wore it that year.
- #2 – 11.385PPG
In the ‘14-’15 season, Kyrie Irving’s ninth-ranking PPG of 21.7 helped to make the number 2 jersey the fourth-highest averaging in the league, while he wore it for the Cleveland Cavaliers. It has been in the top ten average-scoring jerseys for three of the last 12 seasons.
- #1 – 11.384PPG
In the tenth spot is the number 1 jersey. The last two years have seen it donned by stars including Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Lamelo Ball, and the French phenom Victor Wembanyama. PPG averaged in the number has been top ten each season since ‘21-’22.
| Rank | Jersey Number | No. of Players | Average Points Per Game |
| 1 | 77 | 11 | 15.37 |
| 2 | 0 | 94 | 13.52 |
| 3 | 11 | 87 | 12.59 |
| 4 | 23 | 53 | 12.22 |
| 5 | 35 | 29 | 12.20 |
| 6 | 13 | 74 | 12.15 |
| 7 | 30 | 46 | 11.81 |
| 8 | 3 | 108 | 11.67 |
| 9 | 2 | 83 | 11.385 |
| 10 | 1 | 91 | 11.384 |
Nemanja Vukasinovic, CEO of Fadeaway World commented on the findings: “It’s fascinating to see which jersey numbers the greatest NBA scorers of the last decade wear. With most players taking pride in their uniform number, and a story lying behind the adoption of many of them, it’s great to see whose are the most prolific. Regardless of luck, skill or player prowess, the demand for the players who currently wear these jerseys will undoubtedly remain high.”
Credit to https://fadeawayworld.net
Sources: basketball-reference
Methodology: Data was scraped from https://www.basketball-reference.com by seasons with ending years 2013-2024. This data includes uniform number, player name, points per game for that season, and how many games were played that season. A weighted average was then calculated for each uniform number both per season and across all the seasons scraped.
Ave.PPG per season
| Uniform Number | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | 16-17 | 17-18 | 18-19 | 19-20 | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24 |
| 77 | 1.30 | 9.17 | 9.86 | 5.31 | 4.10 | 14.26 | 21.67 | 22.80 | 17.71 | 29.04 | 20.71 | |
| 0 | 11.77 | 12.92 | 14.07 | 13.36 | 13.99 | 13.64 | 15.32 | 13.63 | 12.68 | 13.45 | 13.40 | 14.09 |
| 11 | 11.93 | 12.19 | 11.03 | 12.51 | 12.37 | 11.45 | 13.45 | 12.66 | 12.66 | 13.41 | 14.35 | 13.29 |
| 23 | 9.37 | 11.91 | 14.77 | 12.41 | 13.68 | 14.28 | 14.07 | 10.94 | 10.44 | 9.14 | 10.96 | 13.37 |
| 35 | 14.97 | 17.70 | 10.62 | 14.06 | 9.87 | 13.35 | 16.31 | 9.58 | 11.66 | 10.29 | 7.98 | 12.72 |
| 13 | 11.31 | 11.30 | 8.98 | 11.65 | 13.24 | 11.25 | 13.43 | 14.01 | 12.23 | 11.27 | 13.06 | 14.14 |
| 30 | 10.15 | 11.06 | 10.31 | 12.39 | 11.07 | 11.33 | 11.57 | 9.61 | 18.09 | 13.41 | 12.87 | 11.83 |
| 3 | 11.83 | 10.62 | 10.08 | 10.69 | 10.27 | 11.03 | 10.57 | 13.45 | 12.72 | 12.88 | 14.49 | 11.50 |
| 2 | 10.49 | 12.05 | 12.01 | 11.40 | 12.68 | 9.40 | 10.59 | 12.21 | 12.42 | 9.90 | 10.92 | 12.52 |
| 1 | 8.75 | 10.79 | 9.91 | 10.28 | 9.11 | 9.86 | 11.97 | 10.76 | 12.54 | 13.05 | 14.48 | 14.47 |