For How Many Teams Average NBA Players Work for?

Officially NBA offseason is going to start tomorrow but we already know it won’t disappoint in terms of illogical moves and huge activity [4 out of 5 busiest parts of typical season will happen in less than three weeks!].

With all that in mind I wondered: on average for how many teams does typical NBA player work for?
Especially when it’s a natural follow-up to information about average career length.
I used the same data to determine answer but with two important tweaks: I deleted all player-seasons from defunct franchises and I assumed team’s continuity [so for example, I considered Minneapolis Lakers the same team as Los Angeles Lakers]. I did it to focus on players’ movement alone not on team’s history.

And the result of those calculations was…
3458 NBA players on average spent 2.21 seasons with one team and they played for 2.51 teams.

As with average career length there’s probably a difference between starters, stars and scrubs so…

For how many teams on average NBA Players played for in various rotation roles?

Less than 12 minutes per game for a career = 1,69 teams.
More than 12 minutes per game for a career but less than 20 = 2,98 teams.
More than 20 minutes per game for a career but less than 25 = 3,30 teams.
More than 25 minutes per game for a career but less than 30 = 3,38 teams.
More than 30 minutes per game for a career = 2,99 teams.

I think there’s an interesting dynamic here… even though the last group has the longest average careers… they spend it with fewer teams! Like we really needed another reason why does it pay off to be considered among the best players in the league… ;-)

As a bonus… recently Sports Illustrated posted a gallery titled “Twenty-Plus Years with One Team” which had 21 names on it… but none of them from the NBA!
So Which NBA Players did spend the most time with one Team? Here’s a full list for 13+ seasons…

Player	Team	Started	Finished	Games	Minutes	Seasons
John Stockton*	UTA	1985	2003	1504	47764	19
Karl Malone*	UTA	1986	2003	1434	53479	18
Reggie Miller	IND	1988	2005	1389	47619	18
Hakeem Olajuwon*	HOU	1985	2001	1177	42844	17
John Havlicek*	BOS	1963	1978	1270	46471	16
Dolph Schayes*	PHI	1950	1964	996	29800	15
Hal Greer*	PHI	1959	1973	1122	39788	15
Kobe Bryant	LAL	1997	2011*	1103	40145	15
Patrick Ewing*	NYK	1986	2000	1039	37586	15
David Robinson*	SAS	1990	2003	987	34271	14
Elgin Baylor*	LAL	1959	1972	846	33863	14
Jerry West*	LAL	1961	1974	932	36571	14
Joe Dumars*	DET	1986	1999	1018	35139	14
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*	LAL	1976	1989	1093	37492	14
Robert Parish*	BOS	1981	1994	1106	34977	14
Tim Duncan	SAS	1998	2011*	1053	37733	14
Alvan Adams	PHO	1976	1988	988	27203	13
Bill Laimbeer	DET	1982	1994	937	30602	13
Bill Russell*	BOS	1957	1969	963	40726	13
Bob Cousy*	BOS	1951	1963	917	30131	13
Calvin Murphy*	HOU	1971	1983	1002	30607	13
Chris Mullin*	GSW	1986	2001	807	28225	13
Dirk Nowitzki	DAL	1999	2011*	993	36236	13
Fred Brown	OKC	1972	1984	963	24422	13
Isiah Thomas*	DET	1982	1994	979	35516	13
Kevin McHale*	BOS	1981	1993	971	30118	13
Larry Bird*	BOS	1980	1992	897	34443	13
Magic Johnson*	LAL	1980	1996	906	33245	13
Michael Jordan*	CHI	1985	1998	930	35887	13
Paul Pierce	BOS	1999	2011*	964	35710	13
Tom Sanders*	BOS	1961	1973	916	22164	13
Wes Unseld*	WAS	1969	1981	984	35832	13
Gary Payton	OKC	1991	2003	999	36858	13

A lot of Hall-of-Fame players here… including those who will join this group in the future and 4 of them are still playing in aforementioned teams so they will move up on this list.

Finally, a curiosity: which NBA players played on most teams during their career?

• Jim Jackson [12 different teams], Joe Smith [12], Tony Massenburg [12], Chucky Brown [12],
• Kevin Ollie [11],
• Damon Jones [10], Mark Bryant [10], Aaron Williams [10],
• Rod Strickland [9], Drew Gooden [9], Benoit Benjamin [9], Tyrone Corbin [9], Theo Ratliff [9], Mike James [9], Brevin Knight [9], Earl Boykins [9], Anthony Goldwire [9], Mikki Moore [9], Eddie House [9], Jaren Jackson [9], Tony Brown [9], Jason Hart [9], Tim Kempton [9], Randy Livingston [9], Greg Foster [9].

Journeymen’s Hall-of-Fame ;-)
BTW, from this list only Gooden and House are still active… will they break the record?