Wikipedia talk:WikiProject National Basketball Association

On NBA players infobox, they list annual leaders such as annual scoring, rebounding, etc but there are a few that are missing such as annual minutes, free throws, 3-point field goals, field goal percentage, 3-point field goals percentage, and free throw percentage. Should these be included as well? AloofStorm5476 (talk) 16:26, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

In a previous archived discussion I found, there seemed to be consensus to exclude any single season stat leaders in the infobox beyond points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Left guide (talk) 18:40, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

That is a bummer! I've had discussions about other awards that are not included in the infobox and I still stand by my opinion that they should be included along with these other annual leaders stats. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 20:17, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Please refer to WP:NBAINCLUDE and WP:NBAEXCLUDE as to what has been agreed to be included and what has been agreed to be excluded, respectively. Assadzadeh (talk) 20:54, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Doesn't say anything about annual minutes, free throws, 3-point field goals, field goal percentage, 3-point field goals percentage, and free throw percentage. That needs to be included in either section but I say they should be included. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 22:20, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

That's why we have these discussions. I would suggest that you start a new WP:RFC on this page stating specifically what additional stats you think should be added to the infobox and then we can discuss to reach a consensus. Assadzadeh (talk) 22:28, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

An RfC seems overkill this early. We can start with a regular discussion like we're having now. Left guide (talk) 22:46, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

OK, in that case then I'm opposed to adding any other stats besides the 15 categories already listed under the WP:NBAINCLUDE section. Perhaps we should add a statement under the WP:NBAEXCLUDE section to the effect that any stat for which there has been no consensus is automatically excluded. In effect, this would eliminate any gray-areas. Assadzadeh (talk) 22:58, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

And I doubt many non-basketball fans would have an opinion, nor would I expect much constructive input from them if they did (AGF be damned). —Bagumba (talk) 09:54, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

Is it ok if I put the annual minutes, turnovers, free throws, 3-point field goals, field goal percentage, 3-point field goals percentage, and free throw percentage in a players wikipedia page under the subsection where it lists there awards, highlights, and honors? That way it's not in a players infobox. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 01:00, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Some, if not all of that information is included under a player's Career statistics section. Assadzadeh (talk) 01:35, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Our current infobox setup seems to reflect treatment among reliable sources as to what the major stat categories are in basketball in accordance with WP:DUE: NYT/Athletic says they are points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, as does ESPN, in addition to local sources like Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Left guide (talk) 23:01, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

• Comment is there any reason that these stats should be included? Don't forget MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 23:49, 5 February 2026 (UTC)
• The infobox is way to cluttered as is, we don’t need more stuff there, we need less. Honestly, if it is not worth mentioning it in the lead then it does not belong in the infobox as it is for key facts Alvaldi (talk) 07:20, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

  ... if it is not worth mentioning it in the lead then ...: Too often, stuff gets crammed in the infobox in lieu of more appropriate text in the body. —Bagumba (talk) 10:01, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE: Less is more. —Bagumba (talk) 09:58, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

FWIW, here are the awards that the NBA notes. Interesting that the "Community Assist Award" is not on the list. Assadzadeh (talk) 23:03, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

That's what I've been saying all along. to include all those awards. the NBA's website is proof that they are recognized. If we were to include the Community Assist Award, then it would only be the Season-long award winners and not the Monthly award winners. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 23:31, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

We don't have to go along with what the NBA says.- UCO2009bluejay (talk) 23:35, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

We shouldn't, since the NBA isn't an independent source for awards it bestows; an award being recognized by the NBA does nothing to demonstrate due weight. Left guide (talk) 00:44, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Agreed, but I put more due weight on the NBA Awards than the numerous "Athlete (or Sportsperson) of the Year" awards that are handed out each year. Assadzadeh (talk) 00:48, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

FYI

There's a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject National Football League § Centralized discussion about the parameters/awards found in Template:Infobox gridiron football biography that's related to this project's listing of highlights in the infobox, esp. college highlights. —Bagumba (talk) 18:24, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

I'd be favor in removing awards (most of which are not exactly detailed in prose anyway, failing WP:INFOBOXPURPOSE), but US Americans love mythologizing athletes, it makes for awesome discussions (which awards matter), and I don't think people will like leaving the infobox with just national team medals... I mean, people remember Jordan's 6 NBA titles, not the 2 Olympic gold medals. But yeah, ice hockey infobox, or even the soccer infobox would look great. Howard the Duck (talk) 18:30, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

@Howard the Duck:, I would recommend sharing your thoughts in that discussion to avoid fragmenting the discussion.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 18:44, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

I have an idea on how college football works, but I'd want to defer on people who know more that me about that on how that specific should look like. Howard the Duck (talk) 18:45, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

I don't think anyone has thought comprehensively yet about how to reasonably balance the length of pro and college highlights. You're an much of an expert at the next editor. —Bagumba (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Basketball even has high school awards to think about. Lebron has 5 high school awards (granted he never played in college). His "Career highlights" section is longer than every other part of the infobox, may be even including the photo. Compare, for example, Sidney Crosby and Lionel Messi vs. Tom Brady and Shohei Ohtani. Howard the Duck (talk) 19:38, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Based on space, Messi's autograph is his top highlight. —Bagumba (talk) 21:48, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

LOL why even have signatures? Howard the Duck (talk) 22:30, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

.. most of which are not exactly detailed in prose anyway ...: Most articles are a work in progress. A fairer assessment would be whether a highlight in question would be expected to be in the prose of the article if it were an WP:FA. —Bagumba (talk) 19:24, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Just for the record, I am not in favor of deleting highlights from the infobox. I am always open to discussions on how to reduce the number, but a fact of life is that the top 1% athletes will always have a long list of accomplishments. I do feel strongly that college highlights are important. Less so high school, but there are definitely editors who are really into it. As an aside, I can’t stand the ice hockey infobox (lack of highlights is the least of my issues with it) and have zero interest in modeling after it. We created the basketball infobox when that one already existed (and it has looked basically the same forever) and made intentional choices in most of the areas that deviate from it. Rikster2 (talk) 22:28, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

• If the highlight isn’t important enough to get mentioned in the prose it probably shouldn’t be in the infobox. It is better to have a detailed list of awards under an awards & achievement section in the article itself. Alvaldi (talk) 07:22, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Just because something isn't mentioned in prose does not imply it's "not important enough" to include the infobox, it's because an editor hasn't yet taken the effort to add it into prose. SportsGuy789 (talk) 16:24, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

    That is indeed true for some articles. Then we have some fully flexed out good articles like LeBron James' that has two lines in the infobox for Parade All-American awards that aren't even mentioned in the rest of the article. Alvaldi (talk) 09:51, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    Parade and McDonald's AA were deemed defining awards at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2017 May 3 § Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) and Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2017 May 3#Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans, respectively. —Bagumba (talk) 15:30, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    LeBron James was a notable high school player before he ever set foot on an NBA court. Appeared on several national magazine covers before he was 18. It is where he first became notable. Rikster2 (talk) 15:44, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    I am not arguing that LeBron's high school career wasn’t notable because it was. I am just saying that not every award (high school or others) should be in the infobox, specially if it is not fit for the lead and sources generally don’t list it as one of his achievements. Alvaldi (talk) 19:09, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    Oh, so now it has to be in the lead? I will be honest, it would be fully appropriate for LeBron’s lead would include that he is one of the best high school players ever and mention his national POY and major AA awards for it. To be honest, I could be convinced to eliminate high school honors, but I can guarantee there would be edit warring over articles putting them back in. And I again caution about using top 1% athletes like LeBron James for determining policy. Most players’ profiles look more like Jalen Rose or less. Rikster2 (talk) 19:23, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    Man we're moving goalposts (is there a basketball equivalent); first, awards should be on the prose, then it should "if someone writes an FA about the subject", now it should be on the lead. WP:INFOBOXPURPOSE states "The purpose of an infobox is to summarize, but not supplant, the key facts that appear in an article" (emphasis mine). This is not if the article is FA-level, not in the lead. Just on the article. While there are exceptions, I don't think it's like the ones found in {{Infobox language}} and {{Chembox}}. Howard the Duck (talk) 22:53, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

    There's plenty of editors that are averse to writing prose and only add to infoboxes or embedded lists. It's counterproductive to remove those items solely because they're not in prose. FWIW, WP:NBA5+ advises that for players with 5+ professional highlights:

    ... high school highlights should be restricted to major national player of the year awards and State Mr. Basketball awards e.g. Minnesota Mr. Basketball.

    However, the de facto practice seems to be that McD and Parade HS AAs have been listed, regardless of infobox size. —Bagumba (talk) 18:25, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

User:Alvaldi, I find it hilarious that you are bemoaning adding high school and college highlights when you keep adding FIBA all-tournament honors to articles, which there has never been consensus to include. Rikster2 (talk) 20:33, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

@Rikster2 Always glad when I can amuse people, the world would really be a dull place if we couldn't laugh. I was simply boldly adding those to the articles since there is evidence that this is a career defining moment for several players (outside of the United States, at least) such as Caloy Loyzaga, Pero Cameron, Oscar Schmidt and several others.. I did attempt to discuss this two years ago but like many discussions on both the NBA and Basketball Wikiprojects, that led to nothing. Alvaldi (talk) 13:26, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Nikola Topić recently made his NBA debut after injuries and recovery from testicular cancer. He was under contract but on IR for the Thunder all of last year - should the NBA champion highlight be in his infobox? Should he appear on the OKC champs navbox? It was my recollection that we had said the playoff roster determines who shows in this way, but I definitely see players on recent champ navboxes who were not on the playoff roster (like some 2-way players). Rikster2 (talk) 13:44, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

This was brought up in 2024 at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject National Basketball Association/Archive 47 § NBA champion in infobox: Two-way players and Avery Bradley, but there was no input. 2-way players, outside of COVID years, were not playoff eligible. There were also examples of Kevon Looney (2017) and Avery Bradley (2020) who did not play in the playoffs when their teams won a title. —Bagumba (talk) 16:51, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Basketball Reference shows championships for Topić, Looney and two-way players (Alex Ducas from the 2025 Thunder, for example). Bradley has no championship. I cannot locate their rationale for differentiating ineligible, injured and inactive championship participation. CalDoesIt (talk) 23:01, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Is there any indication who the NBA considers a champion? By the way, WP:NBARING is pretty specific about criteria, and says playoff roster. Rikster2 (talk) 05:30, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

I would think that if sources generally say that a player is considered to have won a NBA championship even if he didn't play in the playoffs then it should be included in their Wikipedia article. It isn't really ours to decide if he merits a championship ring/medal or not. Alvaldi (talk) 10:03, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Which is why I asked what the NBA’s stance is. if they do not consider a player an NBA champion, neither should Wikipedia. Rikster2 (talk) 15:42, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

It turns out NBA.com shows championships on player profiles in an awards section I had not previously known; one has to add "/career" to the end of the URL or view a profile, click "Stats", click the dropdown menu under "Profile", click "Career" and then scroll to the bottom. Of my past examples, Topić (injured), Ducas (two-way) and Bradley (inactive) are treated the same as on Basketball Reference. However, Looney only has two championships which implies the NBA believes he did not earn a championship when he missed time in 2017. Again, I can find no rationale for these decisions but at least there is an official designation from the NBA itself. CalDoesIt (talk) 16:48, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Isn't it then settled that if the NBA considers the individual a champion then the Wikipedia article should also and vice versa? Alvaldi (talk) 13:28, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

I would think so. Rikster2 (talk) 14:54, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

What do reliable sources say about the players and their championships?

Per WP:KERSHAWRFC, championships in a WP:BLP are assigned according to Wikipedia's core policy guidelines of WP:V and WP:NPOV.

If WP:NBARING goes against these policies, it is a WP:LOCALCONSENSUS that should be ignored.

The NBA.com website and the Basketball Reference reference website have no official bearing on this question, and should be evaluated again the preponderance of reliable third-party independent sources. PK-WIKI (talk) 15:48, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

I completely disagree that the NBA’s take (in other words, the league granting the championships) on who is and is not a champion has no bearing on- and the league POV was missing in the Kershaw example. Rikster2 (talk) 16:04, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

But the NBA.com stats website is not the method for the NBA granting a championship, just as the MLB.com website was missing Kershaw's championship.

If we were talking about something like the NHL with well published rules for names on the Stanley Cup, I would agree. PK-WIKI (talk) 16:20, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Were there other MLB bios that have changed since the Kershaw decision? It could just be a one-off based on WP:RECENTISM in a perfect storm involving a future HOFer from a large-market team with inflated media coverage. —Bagumba (talk) 16:16, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

No, no other MLB bios have been changed. Tanner Scott is still not listed as a WS champ. Meanwhile, Alex Vesia is listed as a 2025 champ but the only source is Baseball Reference. Double standards. ~WikiOriginal-9~ (talk) 16:37, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

It was my recollection that we had said the playoff roster determines who shows in this way: See NBA playoffs § Team rosters. Teams can declare up to 15 players for the playoffs, and then each game allowed to designate (3?) players to deactivate. Before, they had to declare the same 12 for the entire playoffs. It might be harder to source a player if hypothetically they were on the playoff roster but never entered a playoff game.—Bagumba (talk) 01:33, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

To whom it concerns, the following are listed at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2026 February 17#Tertiary NBA stats leaders navboxes: {{NBA field goal percentage leaders}}, {{NBA free throw percentage leaders}}, {{NBA three-point leaders}}, and {{NBA three-point percentage leaders}}. SportsGuy789 (talk) 18:59, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Template:NBA arena statues has been listed for discussion, which may result in the template being merged or deleted by consensus. You are invited to comment on the proposed action at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. SportsGuy789 (talk) 22:36, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Please take part in a discussion on when to use the (NBA) draft parameter for certain situations. Discussion found here. Thanks Rikster2 (talk) 20:05, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

When I go into a NBA players wikipedia page, in their infobox there is no section titled "Career Stats as of for example 2/23/2026". NFL players wikipedia page has that feature so I was wondering if we should do the same thing for NBA players? AloofStorm5476 (talk) 16:58, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

How are those sections kept up to date in the NFL articles? Does someone have to do it manually? Or is there an automated process? Zagalejo (talk) 19:20, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

@Zagalejo They update it manually. ^{Dieter Lloyd Wexler} 21:25, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

You would have to do it manually. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 22:37, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

@AloofStorm5476 I doubt it's sustainable. NFL teams play usually one (sometimes two) game per week so they have enough time to update tables, and even with that time between games, it's not always tables are updated weekly. ^{Dieter Lloyd Wexler} 21:28, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Something I would propose would be for one person to handle an NBA team. Say for example I can handle the Oklahoma City Thunder players, that we one person is not handling such a large load. AloofStorm5476 (talk) 22:43, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What would be the benefit of updating stats on a daily basis, as opposed to once at the end of the season? Assadzadeh (talk) 23:26, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

That could be a possibility worth thinking about! AloofStorm5476 (talk) 01:38, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

That seems untenable. This is a volunteer project and it's exceedingly unlikely there's 30 different people willing to manually update 12-15 articles on a scheduled basis 82 times per year. We barely have maybe 5-10 regulars on this page. At any rate, such a task is peripheral to building the encyclopedia which is about writing (and maintaining) sourced prose in articles. A prominently-displayed external link to a reliable stats database that itself is externally updated in (near) real-time is equally functional and has the benefit of requiring virtually no ongoing maintenance for us. Left guide (talk) 01:33, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

The NBA project has consistently rejected daily stats updates, even in the body. It's just churn. Outside of maybe MLB, there's no "magic" career stats thresholds that are inherently notable, even moreso for active players. —Bagumba (talk) 22:16, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Agree with others' sentiment. It's ludicrous, to be blunt, to update hundreds' of NBA players' stats after 82 games (plus playoffs). Even adding them at the end of the season broaches on untenable. As User:Left guide said, having a prominent external link at the bottom of their article to their NBA.com or basketball-reference.com stats pages is sufficient / preferred. SportsGuy789 (talk) 22:00, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

I have noticed editors without accounts adding dow tooltip templates to the dates of historical articles. Just in case anybody is unaware of what this does it adds dots below a specific date that tells you the day of the week the event was. Example March 1 (1957) becomes March 1. I don't think it is harmful (other than arguable pointless bytes), but I also don't think it is necessarily useful or relevant, like the NFL where non-Sundays have some relevance. I don't have a preference whether these are included or not as long as it is consistently applied. It annoys me when I see historical season articles have different formats than contemporary ones.- UCO2009bluejay (talk) 19:30, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Just notifying members of this project that there is a Conflict of Interest edit request relevant to this WikiProject at the Charlotte Hornets article. DrThneed (talk) 02:35, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Just notifying members of this project that there is a Conflict of Interest edit request relevant to this WikiProject at the Kon Knueppel article. DrThneed (talk) 02:37, 11 March 2026 (UTC)