List of National Basketball League (Australia) annual scoring leaders

Last updated

In basketball, points are accumulated through free throws or field goals. [1] The National Basketball League's (NBL) scoring title is awarded to the player with the highest points per game average in a given season. The scoring title was originally determined by total points scored through the 1996 season, after which points per game was used to determine the leader instead. [2] Players who earned scoring titles before the 1984 season did not record any three-point field goals because the three-point line had just been implemented in the NBL at the start of that season. [3]

Contents

Andrew Gaze has won the most scoring titles, with 14. [2] He also holds the all-time records for total points scored (1,007; 1991) [4] and points per game (44.1; 1987) [5] in a season. Between 1986 and 2001, Gaze was the leader in either total points or points per game every season. While he led the NBL in points per game in 1987 (44.1) and 1990 (37.6), he was not the leader in total points scored. His 882 total points in 1987 were third best behind Paul Stanley (920) and James Crawford (903), [6] while his 828 points in 1990 were also third best behind Derek Rucker (865) and Wayne McDaniel (848). [7]

Key

Denotes player who won the Most Valuable Player award that year
Player (X)Denotes the number of times the player had been the scoring leader up to and including that season
G Guard F Forward C Center

Scoring leaders

Andrew Gaze recorded 14 scoring titles in his career, the most in NBL history Andrew gaze (cropped).JPG
Andrew Gaze recorded 14 scoring titles in his career, the most in NBL history
Bryce Cotton is a seven-time scoring champion Bryce Cotton 2022.jpg
Bryce Cotton is a seven-time scoring champion
SeasonPlayer Pos NationalityTeamGames playedTotal pointsRef
1979 Cal Bruton GFlag of the United States.svg United States Brisbane Bullets 18597 [2]
1980 Rocky Smith GFlag of the United States.svg United States St. Kilda Saints 22737 [2]
1981 Mike Jones F/CFlag of the United States.svg United States Illawarra Hawks 22671 [2]
1982 Reg Biddings FFlag of the United States.svg United States Adelaide City Eagles 26782 [2]
1983 Mike Jones (2)F/CFlag of the United States.svg United States Illawarra Hawks 22719 [2] [8] [9]
1984 Al Green GFlag of the United States.svg United States West Adelaide Bearcats 21829 [2]
1985 Kendal Pinder F/CFlag of the Bahamas.svg Bahamas Sydney Supersonics 26871 [2]
1986 Andrew Gaze GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 25922 [2]
1987 Paul Stanley [lower-alpha 1] FFlag of the United States.svg United States Hobart Devils 26920 [2]
1988 Andrew Gaze (2)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 24886 [2]
1989 Andrew Gaze (3)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 24831 [2]
1990 Derek Rucker [lower-alpha 2] GFlag of the United States.svg United States Brisbane Bullets 25865 [2]
1991 Andrew Gaze (4)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 261,007 [2]
1992 Andrew Gaze (5)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 23811 [2]
1993 Andrew Gaze (6)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 26858 [2]
1994 Andrew Gaze (7)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 26890 [2]
1995 Andrew Gaze (8)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 26900 [2]
1996 Andrew Gaze (9)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 26843 [2]
SeasonPlayer Pos NationalityTeamGames played Points per game Ref
1997 Andrew Gaze (10)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 3031.5 [2]
1998 Andrew Gaze (11)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 3031.8 [2]
1998–99 Andrew Gaze (12)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 1733.5 [2]
1999–00 Andrew Gaze (13)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 2828.9 [2]
2000–01 Andrew Gaze (14)GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 2729.1 [2]
2001–02 Randy Rutherford GFlag of the United States.svg United States Brisbane Bullets 3025.0 [2] [10]
2002–03 John Rillie GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia West Sydney Razorbacks 1623.6 [2] [11]
2003–04 Matthew Nielsen FFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Sydney Kings 3323.5 [2]
2004–05 Brian Wethers G/FFlag of the United States.svg United States Hunter Pirates 3224.3 [12]
2005–06 Cortez Groves GFlag of the United States.svg United States Wollongong Hawks 3224.1 [2]
2006–07 Carlos Powell FFlag of the United States.svg United States New Zealand Breakers 3328.2 [13]
2007–08 Ebi Ere G/FFlag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria Brisbane Bullets 2927.1 [14]
2008–09 Kirk Penney G/FFlag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand New Zealand Breakers 2824.2 [15] [16] [17]
2009–10 Kirk Penney (2)G/FFlag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand New Zealand Breakers 1923.2 [18] [19]
2010–11 Kirk Penney (3) [lower-alpha 3] G/FFlag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand New Zealand Breakers 2320.1 [24]
2011–12 Kevin Lisch GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2817.6 [25]
2012–13 Ben Madgen G/FFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Sydney Kings 2817.9 [26] [27]
2013–14 Chris Goulding GFlag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Melbourne Tigers 2723.0 [28]
2014–15 Josh Childress FFlag of the United States.svg United States Sydney Kings 1821.1 [29]
2015–16 Jerome Randle GFlag of the United States.svg United States Adelaide 36ers 2323.0 [30]
2016–17 Bryce Cotton [lower-alpha 4] GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 1122.1 [31]
2017–18 Jerome Randle (2) [lower-alpha 5] GFlag of the United States.svg United States Sydney Kings 1919.8 [32]
2018–19 Bryce Cotton (2) [lower-alpha 6] GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2522.5 [34]
2019–20 Bryce Cotton (3)GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2722.6 [35]
2020–21 Bryce Cotton (4) [lower-alpha 7] GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 3223.5 [37] [38]
2021–22 Bryce Cotton (5)GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2822.7 [39]
2022–23 Bryce Cotton (6)GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2823.5 [40] [41]
2023–24 Bryce Cotton (7)GFlag of the United States.svg United States Perth Wildcats 2723.1 [42]

Multiple-time leaders

RankingPlayerTeamTimes leaderYears
1 Andrew Gaze Melbourne Tigers 14 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
2 Bryce Cotton Perth Wildcats 7 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
3 Kirk Penney New Zealand Breakers 3 2009, 2010, 2011
4 Mike Jones Illawarra Hawks 2 1981, 1983
Jerome Randle Adelaide 36ers (1) / Sydney Kings (1) 2016, 2018

Notes

  1. In the 1987 season, Andrew Gaze had the highest scoring average (44.1) but was third in total points (882).
  2. In the 1990 season, Andrew Gaze had the highest scoring average (37.6) but was third in total points (828).
  3. In the 2010–11 season, both Kirk Penney and Gary Ervin averaged 20.1 points per game during the regular season when rounded to one decimal place. [20] [21] When rounded to two decimal places, Penney averaged 20.13 ppg (463 points / 23 games) [22] while Ervin averaged 20.07 ppg (542 points / 27 games). [23]
  4. In the 2016–17 season, both Bryce Cotton and Casper Ware averaged 22.1 points per game during the regular season when rounded to one decimal place. When rounded to three decimal places, Cotton averaged 22.090 ppg while Ware averaged 22.055. [31]
  5. In the 2017–18 season, Bryce Cotton had the highest point total (544) but was third in scoring average (19.4). [32]
  6. In the 2018–19 season, both Bryce Cotton and Melo Trimble averaged 22.5 points per game during the regular season when rounded to one decimal place. [33] When rounded to two decimal places, Cotton averaged 22.52 ppg (563 points / 25 games) while Trimble averaged 22.50 ppg (630 points / 28 games).
  7. In the 2020–21 season, Nathan Sobey had the highest point total (758) but was second in scoring average (21.1). [36]

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