However, most experts are also of the opinion that the differences between NBA teams and top European teams, most of which play in the Euroleague, arguably the second-best competition, are decreasing. Most of the differences that persist can be reasonably explained by the contrasts between the better athleticism of NBA players and more emphasis on tactical aspects of basketball in the Euroleague.īasketball experts are unanimous that the the National Basketball Association (NBA) league features most of the best players in the world and is where the highest level of basketball is played. The number of blocks, the defensive rebounding rate and the number of free throws per foul committed are also higher in the NBA, while the number of fouls committed is lower. The largest difference is game pace-in the NBA there are more possessions per game. The differences in factors that contribute to success are also very small-(Oliver’s) four factors derived from box-score statistics explain most of the variability in team success even if the coefficients are determined for both competitions simultaneously instead of each competition separately. Differences are even smaller after we adjust for game length and when playoff NBA basketball is considered instead of regular season basketball. Overall, the quantitative differences between the NBA and Euroleague have decreased and are still decreasing. We analyse and compare NBA and Euroleague basketball through box-score statistics in the period from 2000 to 2017.

Euroleague basketball stats