National Basketball Association

NBA Season Preview: 5 records that could be broken

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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After a flurry of records were broken last season, will fans get an encore this year?

They say records are meant to be broken. Whoever “they” are were probably referring to the 2015-16 NBA season.

The NBA has long been considered a league where records are set, and later go to die in an infinite tomb buried somewhere at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Whether it’s an individual record (Wilt scoring 100 points) or a team record (the Bulls winning 72 games), some marks are (were) considered too sacred and especially impossible to break in today’s modern era of the game.

Anyone who watched the 2015-16 NBA season is way ahead of me right now. That’s because, in addition to several other individual and team marks, one of sports’ most hallowed (albeit, somewhat short-lived) records fell this April when the Warriors finished the regular season 73-9 on the final day of the schedule.

Similar to the 16-0 New England Patriots in 2007, however, the Warriors failed to cash in on a championship during their dream, record-breaking season. On to the next one, they say, as the Dubs simply added one of the five best players in the league to ready themselves for another title run.

The NBA as a whole has retooled in a big way this past offseason, as a $24 million jump in the salary cap spawned an epic arms race among contenders, semi-contenders, pretenders, and teams that just wanted to spend money.

With all of the moves and other implications heading into the season, here are five records that can be broken in the upcoming NBA year. (And no, they don’t all include the Warriors.)

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

5. Worst record/most losses

Might as well get the cruel one out of the way. While the “trust the process” era may be over, following Sam Hinkie’s decision to step down from the Philadelphia 76ers in April, the team still achieved new levels of awfulness last season. Sure, they managed to win 10 games and not tie the all-time worst record of 9-73 (set by the 1972-73 Sixers), but the team lost 60 games for an NBA-record third straight season and also became the only franchise to start 0-17 in multiple seasons, which they accomplished in back-to-back tries.

The path to respectability in 2016-17 has been thwarted big-time by the loss of first overall pick Ben Simmons, who may miss the whole season with a Jones fracture in his right foot. It’s literally and figuratively a tough break for a tortured franchise and fan base. As such, despite the hopeful emergence of 2014 first rounder Joel Embiid, making his NBA debut this season, the Sixers are once again their own worst enemy in regard to breaking undesirable records.

Still, it’s not fair (or as fun) to single out the Sixers as the only contender for the league’s worst team. How about the Brooklyn Nets? I mean, have you seen this photo? After trading away Thaddeus Young to the Pacers for the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft (Caris Levert), the Nets are left with Brook Lopez and top free agent acquisition Jeremy Lin to lead a team completely devoid of star talent.

The only thing working in the Nets favor is they currently don’t have a first round draft pick for two more seasons, which totally kills their incentive to tank. Despite their best efforts to compete, however, the Nets join the Sixers as the two teams with the best chance to break 9-73. (Not to mention the all-time worst winning percentage mark of .106 set by the Charlotte Bobcats during the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season.)

OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 04: Kevin Durant

4. Team threes in a season/game

Breaking records on a yearly basis sort of takes the allure from the achievements, but that shouldn’t stop the Warriors from rewriting the history books yet again this season. In addition to going 73-9, the Dubs shattered several records pertaining to the three-point basket last season. Like, all of them? It got hard to keep track around March. By this count, the team broke more than twice as many records than the Sixers won games last season.

Two of the most noteworthy ones were Stephen Curry’s 402 three-pointers in the regular season, which shattered his prior NBA record of 286, and the team’s combined season total of 1,077 threes, which crushed the 933 total set by the Rockets the previous season.

Now with the addition of Kevin Durant, who ranked 11th in threes made last season despite missing 10 games, the sky is the limit for the Warriors breaking and setting new team records. On the contrary, the addition of Durant to the offense may solidify Curry’s current record for individual achievement, as his 402 mark looks tough to beat considering the unavoidable drop in usage rate Steph will experience this season.

The trio of Curry, Durant and Klay Thompson, along with contributions from Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and others, could produce an even more prolific total than 1,077. Considering roster’s gains and losses, 1,200 seems like a fairly reasonable projection. Oddly enough, the Warriors don’t hold the record for threes made by a team in a single game, which is shared by the Magic and Rockets (23) in the regular season and the Cavs (25) in the postseason. Both marks seem rather tenuous now that KD is wearing gold and blue.

OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 26: Kevin Durant

3. 50-40-90 teammates

Ok, here is a fun one. Last season, Steph Curry became the seventh member of the NBA’s 50-40-90 club, an exclusive group of modern players to hit or exceed those single-season clips in field goal, free throw and three-point shooting percentage, respectively. Curry did so on the strength of a .504/.454/.908 line, which propelled him to his second straight MVP award. (Note: The official list of seven does not include players like Steve Kerr or Kyle Korver, who fell short on one or multiple criteria for attempts.)

The previous six “official” members are Steve Nash (who did it four times), Larry Bird (twice), Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Curry’s new teammate, Kevin Durant. Having won the last three MVP trophies between the two of them, Curry and Durant will now form not just one of the most prolific scoring combos in NBA history, but arguably the most efficient.

Durant joined the 50-40-90 club in 2012-13 (.510/.416/.905), the year before his MVP season. Since then, Durant has shot over 50 percent from the field in every season, but has fallen short in the free throw and three-point department in the two years he would have qualified for the club. (Durant played only 27 games in 2014-15.)

It’s fair to pontificate on whether KD will have his most efficient season to date, moving from a team that prospered on iso-ball and constant freelancing on offense to a team that thrives on ball movement, open shots and transition baskets. None of that will force a market correction on Durant’s free throw shooting, but we’re talking about a career 88 percent maker from the stripe, making 90 percent very realistic.

So can Curry and Durant become the first 50-40-90 teammates? How’s this for a scenario – what if the Dubs have three members in the club this season? Klay Thompson went .470/.425/.873 last season, and notably shot nearly 94 percent from the line post All-Star break. While he will be asked to do less on offense this season, Klay will still have a major role and receive frighteningly less attention from opposing defenses.

This is still a bold call, requiring a lot of from three guys learning to play with each other for the first time, but the possibility of 50-40-90 triplets is real and it is spectacular.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – MAY 28: Russell Westbrook

2. Most triple-doubles in season (since merger)/fastest triple-double

This record comes with a caveat, which is sure to bug the likes who think Wilt Chamberlain is the greatest scorer ever or that Oscar Robertson is the greatest all-around player. Yes, Robertson holds the NBA record for triple-doubles in a season; he notched 41 in 1961-62, which is, of course, the season he averaged a triple-double (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists).

The only issue is that the term “triple-double” wasn’t even in the lexicon until at least 1980, six years after Robertson had already retired. It’s a fan-driven stat, popularized by Magic Johnson during the Showtime Lakers era, which means NBA historians had to go back into the record books to credit The Big O for his accolades.

This comes as no disrespect to Robertson (although, he has a hard time respecting today’s players), since he accomplished his feats fair and square and during the non three-point era. If we were to narrow the stat to the modern, post-1976 NBA-ABA merger era, the record is 18 triple-doubles in a season shared by Magic and Russell Westbrook, who did so last season.

With the departure of Durant, it’s hard to just assume that Westbrook will gun for 19 now that the offensive burden is squared solely on his shoulders. He has led the category in back-to-back years, putting up 11 during Durant’s injury-shortened 2014-15 season. It will be awfully fun to watch Westbrook rack up the stats this season, but don’t discount Draymond Green in the race for 19, who is coming off a 13 trip-dub season of his own.

And just in case you’re a real stickler for historical records, Westbrook can outright beat the record for fastest triple-double ever recorded. He famously notched number 18 in just 17 minutes and 35 seconds last season, falling just shy of the record of 17 minutes set by Jim Tucker of the Syracuse Nationals way back in 1955.

CLEVELAND, OH – SEPTEMBER 26: LeBron James

1. Most career playoff points scored

Barring an epic collapse by the Cleveland Cavaliers in next year’s NBA playoffs, here’s a record that is a near lock to be broken this season. LeBron James, already top-ten in career playoff points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes in NBA history, has a chance to become number one in three of those categories this season, most notably points scored — currently held by Michael Jordan with 5,987.

James currently sits in fourth place with 5,572 points in the postseason, which leaves him 415 away from Jordan while also trailing Kareem and Kobe. Considering he has exceeded that mark in six consecutive seasons, all of which ended in an NBA Finals berth, King James is well on his way to breaking Jordan’s record. And it may not even take a Finals appearance to do so, as LeBron has averaged over 581 points per postseason during that six-year span.

Also up for grabs is the number one spot in playoff minutes played, remarkable for a guy who is still just 31-years-old. James is currently in fourth place with 8,383 minutes, trailing leader Tim Duncan who has 9,370. Barring a very unlikely comeback from Duncan, LeBron needs 987 minutes to tie him. Now, James’ career high in playoff minutes is 983 during the 2011-12 season, and seeing how his minutes have gone down since then, coupled with the fact that the Cavs don’t project to play long series’ in the East, it is unlikely LeBron will break the record this season. He will easily surpass Duncan’s mark in 2017-18, however.

A record LeBron will have an easier chance of breaking this season is career playoff steals. The King is currently in fourth with 354 behind Magic, MJ and leader Scottie Pippen who has 395. It will take 42 steals for LeBron to claim the top spot from Pippen. Granted, it’s a total LeBron has only hit twice during his postseason career, but his high of 49 steals did come last season.

No matter what happens this season, it is only a question of “when” not “if” LeBron becomes the most decorated individual record-holder in NBA Playoffs history.