[OC] Which NBA Players Feast on Bad Defenses and Fall Off Against Good Ones?
I compared every 2025–26 player averaging at least 15 points per game against the league’s top-10 and bottom-10 defenses.
Teams were classified using their final full-season defensive rating. The middle ten defenses were excluded, and players needed at least eight games against both groups.
Top-10 defenses: OKC, DET, SAS, BOS, TOR, HOU, NYK, MIN, ATL, PHX
Bottom-10 defenses: WAS, UTA, SAC, MIL, BKN, NOP, IND, MEM, CHI, DEN
Source for team defensive ratings: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2026.html
Biggest scoring declines
Positive decline means the player scored more per 36 against bottom-10 defenses.
| Rank | Player | Top-10 PTS/36 | Bottom-10 PTS/36 | Decline | Top TS% | Bottom TS% | TS decline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Embiid | 28.0 | 35.6 | 7.6 | 60.5% | 64.1% | 3.6 pp |
| 2 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 31.1 | 38.2 | 7.1 | 64.8% | 65.6% | 0.8 pp |
| 3 | Brandon Miller | 20.0 | 25.9 | 5.9 | 51.3% | 59.1% | 7.8 pp |
| 4 | Donovan Mitchell | 27.9 | 33.7 | 5.8 | 60.0% | 63.8% | 3.7 pp |
| 5 | Alperen Şengün | 19.9 | 25.4 | 5.5 | 54.5% | 62.7% | 8.1 pp |
| 6 | Shaedon Sharpe | 22.7 | 28.0 | 5.3 | 50.6% | 62.8% | 12.2 pp |
| 7 | Michael Porter Jr. | 26.1 | 30.9 | 4.8 | 60.5% | 64.8% | 4.3 pp |
| 8 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 31.4 | 36.2 | 4.8 | 66.4% | 66.9% | 0.6 pp |
| 9 | Bam Adebayo | 20.5 | 24.6 | 4.2 | 54.4% | 54.9% | 0.5 pp |
| 10 | Paolo Banchero | 21.1 | 24.8 | 3.7 | 53.9% | 58.1% | 4.2 pp |
| 11 | Luka Dončić | 31.6 | 35.2 | 3.6 | 58.1% | 64.6% | 6.4 pp |
| 12 | Keyonte George | 24.8 | 28.1 | 3.3 | 60.2% | 62.2% | 2.0 pp |
| 13 | Jamal Murray | 25.3 | 28.5 | 3.3 | 59.0% | 67.2% | 8.2 pp |
| 14 | Austin Reaves | 22.1 | 24.9 | 2.8 | 61.0% | 66.2% | 5.2 pp |
| 15 | Julius Randle | 21.5 | 24.2 | 2.7 | 55.6% | 61.1% | 5.5 pp |
The average decline is 2.13 fewer points per 36 on 2.79% lower TS% for context.
The best reverse examples are Curry who averages 29 pts/36 on 63.6% TS against bottom 10 defenses. compared to 32.4 pts/36 on 61.6% TS against top 10 defenses. Ant averages 30.2 pts/36 on 65.6% TS on top 10 defenses comapred to 30.8 pts per 36 on 60.2% TS against bottom 10 defenses.