Despite having three of the best shooters in the history of the NBA, the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors are sharing the ball at a record pace.
After Saturday’s 135-90 thrashing of the Portland Trail Blazers where they notched 36 assists, the Warriors are now averaging 31.5 assists per game this season, which would be the highest ever single-season mark in NBA history. The current record holders are the Showtime Lakers, who averaged 31.4 assists per game in 1984-85, 2575 total. The Warriors are currently on pace to break that record by eight dimes.
Only three teams in NBA history have managed to average 30 assists in a season since the shot clock was implemented in 1954-55 season, with the aforementioned Lakers being the last team to do it 32 years ago.
The Warriors have been a ball-movement machine since Steve Kerr took over in 2014-15, leading the league in assists in his first two seasons, averaging 27.4 in 2014-15 and 28.9 in 2015-16 respectively. While Golden State is certainly an excellent passing team, it helps that the Warriors have also lead the league in field goal percentage in every season since Kerr took over, currently shooting a staggering 49.8 percent from the field since adding Kevin Durant.
With Klay Thompson as the only notable exception, the Warriors have a unique starting lineup features four gifted passers in Stephen Curry, Durant, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia, with two coming off the bench in Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. The 83-84 Lakers also featured a number of playmakers, but were largely paced by Magic Johnson who averaged 12.6 per game. Draymond Green currently leads the Warriors with 7.3 per game.
The only thing that could seemingly stop Golden State from breaking this three-decades old record would be their propensity to blow team’s out, leading to large stretches of garbage time with their most talented players off the floor. So far (Saturday being a prime good example) that hasn’t been an issue, and this Golden State team looks like it may go down as possibly the best combination of passing and shooting we’ve ever seen.
