“Stephen Curry and Luke Kennard are leading the NBA in plus-minus so far”: Breaking down the method of calculating the metric and the misconceptions associated with it

Stephen Curry and Luke Kennard are leading the league in plus/minus metric, but how reliable is this stat?

Stephen Curry is averaging 28.1 pts in this season so far. He is also fighting for the No.1 spot on Kia MVP Ladder against Kevin Durant. Adding one more amazing stat to this is his total plus/minus which is +195, making him the highest in the league right now.

There is no doubt how much impact Stephen Curry puts on the scoreboard. Since Klay Thompson has yet to return, Stephen Curry is carrying the offensive load for his team and is the main reason for them being 1st seeded in the western conference right now.

But Luke Kennard being second in the plus/minus leader board can be a bit surprising for some people. Luke is averaging only 10.5 pts but has a plus/minus of +154 so far. And he comes off the bench for the LA Clippers team. Currently, the Clippers are 6th seed in the Western Conference.

NBA’s total plus/minus leaders:

1. Steph Curry: +195
2. Luke Kennard: +154

Everyone else trails those two.

— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) November 17, 2021

Also Read: “Stephen Curry getting louder MVP chants than Kevin Durant in Brooklyn now?!”: Warriors superstar gets an incredible reaction from fans during 37 points showing against the Nets

The problem with plus/minus metric

The plus/minus metric was introduced in the 2007-2008 NBA season. It keeps track of the net changes in the score when a given player is either on or off the court.

But relying solely on plus/minus can be misleading since you will be judging a player’s performance by the overall scoring of the team. This metric does not consider how good or bad are his teammates and the opponents on the floor at that time.

An example of it can be seen in Derrick Rose’s case who is 3rd on this list. He comes off the bench and is averaging 12.9 pts this season. The point is this, it can be valuable when coupled with other important stats, but alone it can be misleading at times.

That’s the reason why the ex-NBA players don’t like this parameter. In the case of Stephen Curry, it can be helpful in his MVP race as he’s higher than Kevin Durant in this.

Also read: “The Warriors have pretty much had their system of basketball intact for years, while we’re still trying to figure out things”: James Harden addresses the loss against Stephen Curry and co