A SportiveWorld original index
The exchange rate
between leagues
Luka Dončić was asked whether it is easier to score in the EuroLeague or in the NBA. He answered from memory, like everyone does. We measured it across 2,608 seasons of players who actually made the move.
First, the thing that looks contradictory
A lot more gets scored in the NBA. An NBA team puts up 114 points a game and a EuroLeague team 84: thirty more. Even per minute — because the game lasts 48 and not 40 — the NBA scores 13% more.
114.1
NBA · 48′
2.38 per minute
84.0
EuroLiga · 40′
2.10 per minute
82.7
Liga Endesa · 40′
2.07 per minute
77.0
Primera FEB · 40′
1.93 per minute
And even so, the same player's production shrinks when he arrives. So what goes down is not what the league scores: it is his slice of the pie. The pie is bigger and his slice considerably smaller — because the opponents are better and because almost nobody arrives in the NBA to be what he was in Europe.
What it costs to score after changing league
Points per minute. Below 1, it costs more in the destination league; above, less.
| From | To | Factor | Difference | His slice | Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G League | NBA | 0.660 | −34% | 0.638 | 326 |
| Liga Endesa | NBA | 0.725 | −28% | 0.630 | 99 |
| G League | EuroLeague | 0.735 | −26% | 0.805 | 59 |
| EuroLeague | NBA | 0.752 | −25% | 0.663 | 90 |
| EuroCup | NBA | 0.752 | −25% | 0.647 | 19 |
| NCAA | NBA | 0.789 | −21% | 0.629 | 364 |
| G League | Liga Endesa | 0.840 | −16% | 0.934 | 54 |
| EuroCup | EuroLeague | 0.877 | −12% | 0.856 | 53 |
| Primera FEB | Liga Endesa | 0.884 | −12% | — | 26 |
| G League | EuroCup | 0.922 | −8% | 1.035 | 28 |
| Liga Endesa | EuroLeague | 0.974 | −3% | 0.961 | 324 |
| EuroCup | Liga Endesa | 0.979 | −2% | 0.970 | 35 |
| Liga Endesa | EuroCup | 1.021 | +2% | 1.031 | 29 |
| EuroLeague | Liga Endesa | 1.030 | +3% | 1.045 | 296 |
| EuroLeague | EuroCup | 1.071 | +7% | 1.098 | 38 |
| NCAA | G League | 1.117 | +12% | 0.923 | 255 |
| Liga Endesa | G League | 1.208 | +21% | 1.087 | 22 |
| Liga Endesa | Primera FEB | 1.210 | +21% | — | 14 |
| NBA | EuroLeague | 1.268 | +27% | 1.437 | 128 |
| EuroLeague | G League | 1.280 | +28% | 1.169 | 20 |
| NBA | Liga Endesa | 1.425 | +43% | 1.639 | 92 |
| NBA | EuroCup | 1.473 | +47% | 1.710 | 14 |
| NBA | G League | 1.627 | +63% | 1.683 | 248 |
And it does not cost the same at every position
From Liga Endesa to the NBA, split by where he plays. Small samples — between twelve and twenty-two players per position — so read it as a hint, not a law.
Wings
0.841
22 players
Guards
0.706
14 players
Bigs
0.687
12 players
Scores less, rebounds the same… and assists more
The same move, from Liga Endesa to the NBA, told through the three stats: they do not fall together, and that is the interesting part.
Points
0.725
Fewer shots and better opponents
Rebounds
0.963
Practically the same
Assists
1.165
It rises — and not because he passes better
That assists rise by 17% on arriving in the NBA does not mean the player suddenly passes better. It means that over there they credit as an assist what Europe does not: the criterion is more generous. It is a warning for anyone comparing assists between the two leagues without thinking — and, incidentally, the best proof that these factors measure something real: if they were noise, the three stats would move alike.
How it is calculated
- We look for consecutive seasons by the same player in two different leagues — the year he left and the year he arrived — and compare his production per minute. Being consecutive years, the player is practically the same: what changes is the league.
- The factor is the median of all those ratios, not the mean: four players with residual minutes and an absurd ratio would bend the whole average.
- Each season has to reach 15 games and 8 minutes per game. And a factor is not published until 12 players have made that move.
- “His slice” is the same factor with each league's scoring taken out. The raw factor says how many points he will make; “his slice” says how much his weight inside his team's offence changes. From the ACB to the NBA: he makes 27% fewer points per minute, but his weight in the offence drops 37% — the difference is precisely that the NBA scores more.
- The two directions are calculated separately. Going up from the ACB to the NBA and coming down from the NBA to the ACB are not symmetrical: whoever comes down usually does so because he lost his place, and whoever goes up because he earned it. Flipping a factor round would be inventing half the table.
What this number is not
It is not a prediction about anyone in particular. It is the average behaviour of those who already made that move. A player can land far below or far above: that is why every figure carries alongside it the range where the middle half of the cases fell.