Statistical Snubs
Eligible players outside the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame whose on-field record looks like an inductee's: a model trained on every eligible career gives them at least a 50% chance. 29 players clear that line. Probabilities are out-of-fold: each player was scored by a model that never saw his own outcome.
Rankings as of 2026-10-03, as declared by the corpus that produced them.
| # | Player | Career VAL | Peak | Top-1% / led | Classes | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shawn MarionSG · 2000–2015 · 14 seasons | 198 | 18.2 | 1 / 0 | 9 | 91% |
| 2 | Paul MillsapPF · 2007–2021 · 15 seasons | 191.3 | 17.5 | 1 / 0 | 3 | 89% |
| 3 | Josh SmithPF · 2005–2014 · 10 seasons | 155.9 | 17.9 | 2 / 1 | 10 | 86% |
| 4 | Andre IguodalaF · 2005–2022 · 18 seasons | 192.8 | 15.5 | 0 / 0 | 2 | 79% |
| 5 | Lamar OdomPF · 2000–2013 · 14 seasons | 171.7 | 16 | 0 / 0 | 11 | 77% |
| 6 | Joe JohnsonG · 2003–2017 · 14 seasons | 166.6 | 16 | 0 / 0 | 7 | 74% |
| 7 | Andre MillerPG · 2000–2013 · 13 seasons | 174.7 | 16.3 | 0 / 0 | 11 | 67% |
| 8 | Rasheed WallacePF · 1996–2013 · 15 seasons | 168.2 | 15.5 | 0 / 0 | 11 | 67% |
| 9 | Gus WilliamsPG · 1976–1987 · 11 seasons | 136.3 | 16.6 | 0 / 0 | 37 | 66% |
| 10 | Serge IbakaF · 2010–2021 · 11 seasons | 124.2 | 14.1 | 0 / 0 | 3 | 65% |
| 11 | Rajon RondoPG · 2007–2020 · 13 seasons | 137.9 | 15.1 | 0 / 0 | 4 | 65% |
| 12 | Buck WilliamsPF · 1982–1998 · 17 seasons | 192.3 | 15.6 | 0 / 0 | 26 | 65% |
| 13 | Kevin JohnsonPG · 1989–1998 · 10 seasons | 114.2 | 14.5 | 0 / 0 | 26 | 64% |
| 14 | Fat LeverPG/SG · 1983–1994 · 10 seasons | 134.2 | 17.8 | 0 / 0 | 30 | 64% |
| 15 | Bill LaimbeerC/PF · 1981–1993 · 12 seasons | 148.3 | 14.4 | 0 / 0 | 31 | 63% |
| 16 | Carlos BoozerPF · 2003–2015 · 13 seasons | 154.3 | 16.3 | 0 / 0 | 9 | 63% |
| 17 | Jeff HornacekSG/PG · 1987–2000 · 13 seasons | 142.4 | 13.6 | 0 / 0 | 24 | 61% |
| 18 | Baron DavisPG · 2000–2012 · 11 seasons | 143.2 | 17.8 | 1 / 1 | 12 | 61% |
| 19 | Deron WilliamsPG · 2006–2016 · 10 seasons | 124.7 | 15.9 | 0 / 0 | 8 | 61% |
| 20 | Michael FinleySG · 1996–2009 · 13 seasons | 151 | 16.4 | 0 / 0 | 15 | 61% |
| 21 | Mark AguirreSF/SG · 1982–1994 · 12 seasons | 136.2 | 17 | 0 / 0 | 30 | 61% |
| 22 | Bill BridgesPF/C · 1963–1974 · 10 seasons | 109.9 | 14.9 | 0 / 0 | 50 | 59% |
| 23 | Ron HarperSG/PG · 1987–2001 · 14 seasons | 155.7 | 16.6 | 0 / 0 | 23 | 58% |
| 24 | David WestF · 2004–2018 · 15 seasons | 165.5 | 14.8 | 0 / 0 | 6 | 58% |
| 25 | John WallPG · 2011–2023 · 11 seasons | 139.6 | 18.6 | 0 / 0 | 1 | 57% |
| 26 | Elton BrandPF · 2000–2016 · 16 seasons | 199.8 | 18.3 | 1 / 0 | 8 | 55% |
| 27 | Larry NancePF · 1982–1994 · 12 seasons | 147.7 | 14.6 | 0 / 0 | 30 | 55% |
| 28 | Blake GriffinPF · 2011–2023 · 11 seasons | 132.9 | 18.5 | 3 / 1 | 1 | 54% |
| 29 | Antoine WalkerPF · 1997–2008 · 11 seasons | 135.9 | 16.7 | 0 / 0 | 16 | 54% |
The same model applied to careers still in progress (appeared in 2025 or 2026), on what they have done so far. A trajectory, not a forecast: a young player's number can only rise with the seasons he has not played yet.
| # | Player | Career VAL | Peak | Top-1% / led | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LeBron JamesF · 2004–2026 · 23 seasons | 382.4 | 19.9 | 11 / 0 | >99% |
| 2 | James HardenG · 2010–2026 · 17 seasons | 264.8 | 21.2 | 6 / 3 |
Last appeared before 2025 but inside the waiting period, so no class has considered them yet.
| # | Player | Career VAL | Peak | Top-1% / led | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derrick RosePG · 2009–2024 · 12 seasons | 102.5 | 15.3 | 0 / 0 | 11% |
| 2 | Jae CrowderPF · 2013–2024 · 9 seasons | 65.5 | 10.7 | 0 / 0 | 6% |
One logistic regression for the NBA, fitted on 1,362 retired, eligible players of whom 145 are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (base rate 11%). Retired, last season ≤ 2023 (at least one induction class chosen since he became eligible), and ≥ 5 seasons in the VAL corpus. Inductees below the floor are excluded from training. 7 inductees fall below that floor — mostly careers played largely before or outside this league's corpus — and are not trained on. League-best seasons are ranked league-wide.
The model reads on-field value only: career and peak VAL, league-best seasons by VAL, playoff VAL and longevity. It cannot see awards voting, championships beyond playoff VAL, pre-league or international careers, eligibility bans, or character clauses. Every training player's probability is out-of-fold (scored by a model that never saw his own label). Active players (appeared in one of the last two seasons — the corpus has no retirement flag) and retired players still inside the waiting period are scored on their career to date by the full-data model — a trajectory, not a forecast. A non-inductee who is still eligible may yet be chosen, and a player still playing outside the league is not eligible however long ago he left it. Black ink is shown for context but is not a model input: its season coverage is shorter than the VAL corpus.
Held-out Brier
0.0518
base-rate guess 0.0951
Brier skill
46%
better than the base rate
AUC
0.942
ranks an inductee above a non-inductee
Folds
5
stratified, deterministic
| 3 | Kevin DurantF · 2008–2026 · 18 seasons | 274.1 | 19.4 | 3 / 1 | >99% |
| 4 | Giannis AntetokounmpoF · 2014–2026 · 13 seasons | 225.9 | 21.5 | 9 / 6 | >99% |
| 5 | Russell WestbrookG · 2009–2026 · 18 seasons | 274.8 | 20.6 | 3 / 0 | 99% |
| 6 | Chris PaulG · 2006–2025 · 20 seasons | 268.3 | 18.1 | 2 / 0 | 99% |
| 7 | Stephen CurryG · 2010–2026 · 16 seasons | 212.5 | 17.9 | 0 / 0 | 98% |
| 8 | Kawhi LeonardF · 2012–2026 · 13 seasons | 160.4 | 15.9 | 0 / 0 | 91% |
| 9 | Draymond GreenF · 2013–2026 · 14 seasons | 166.4 | 17.9 | 2 / 0 | 88% |
| 10 | Paul GeorgeF · 2011–2026 · 15 seasons | 184 | 17.5 | 1 / 0 | 87% |
| 11 | Nikola JokicC · 2016–2026 · 11 seasons | 148.5 | 15.5 | 1 / 0 | 83% |
| 12 | Jimmy Butler IIIF · 2012–2026 · 15 seasons | 169.3 | 15.2 | 0 / 0 | 80% |
| 13 | Jayson TatumF · 2018–2025 · 8 seasons | 118.7 | 16.9 | 3 / 0 | 79% |
| 14 | Rudy GobertC · 2014–2026 · 13 seasons | 168.3 | 17 | 1 / 0 | 78% |
| 15 | Jrue HolidayG · 2010–2026 · 17 seasons | 197.2 | 16 | 0 / 0 | 77% |
| 16 | Anthony DavisF · 2013–2026 · 14 seasons | 204.4 | 20.1 | 5 / 0 | 75% |
| 17 | Damian LillardG · 2013–2025 · 13 seasons | 168.8 | 15.5 | 0 / 0 | 72% |
| 18 | Al HorfordC · 2008–2026 · 18 seasons | 170.6 | 13.5 | 0 / 0 | 70% |
| 19 | DeMar DeRozanG · 2010–2026 · 17 seasons | 211.9 | 14.9 | 0 / 0 | 68% |
| 20 | Kyle LowryG · 2008–2025 · 18 seasons | 188.1 | 14.6 | 0 / 0 | 61% |
| 21 | Luka DoncicG · 2019–2026 · 8 seasons | 122.7 | 17 | 2 / 0 | 60% |
| 22 | Jaylen BrownG · 2017–2026 · 10 seasons | 110.2 | 13.5 | 0 / 0 | 60% |
| 23 | Karl-Anthony TownsC · 2016–2026 · 11 seasons | 136.6 | 17.2 | 0 / 0 | 58% |
| 24 | Pascal SiakamF · 2017–2026 · 10 seasons | 125.5 | 15.6 | 0 / 0 | 57% |
| 25 | Klay ThompsonG · 2012–2026 · 13 seasons | 135.3 | 13.7 | 0 / 0 | 56% |
| 3 |
| Markieff MorrisPF · 2012–2024 · 9 seasons |
| 73.4 |
| 13.2 |
| 0 / 0 |
4% |
| 4 | Josh RichardsonSG · 2016–2024 · 7 seasons | 57.1 | 10.8 | 0 / 0 | 3% |
| 5 | Dario SaricF · 2017–2024 · 7 seasons | 55.9 | 10.8 | 0 / 0 | 3% |
| 6 | JaVale McGeeC · 2009–2024 · 12 seasons | 82.9 | 11.3 | 0 / 0 | 2% |
| 7 | Christian WoodF · 2016–2024 · 6 seasons | 49.6 | 11.6 | 0 / 0 | 2% |
| 8 | Torrey CraigSF · 2018–2024 · 5 seasons | 28.2 | 6.9 | 0 / 0 | 2% |
| 9 | Wesley MatthewsSG · 2010–2024 · 14 seasons | 97.4 | 10.1 | 0 / 0 | 2% |
| 10 | Justin HolidaySF · 2015–2024 · 6 seasons | 40.2 | 8.4 | 0 / 0 | 1% |
| Predicted |
|---|
| Players |
|---|
| Mean predicted |
|---|
| Actually inducted |
|---|
| 0–10% | 1066 | 2% | 1% (13) |
| 10–20% | 103 | 14% | 26% (27) |
| 20–30% | 50 | 25% | 30% (15) |
| 30–40% | 25 | 35% | 32% (8) |
| 40–50% | 12 | 45% | 42% (5) |
| 50–60% | 18 | 56% | 56% (10) |
| 60–70% | 28 | 64% | 46% (13) |
| 70–80% | 14 | 75% | 79% (11) |
| 80–90% | 11 | 84% | 82% (9) |
| 90–100% | 35 | 97% | 97% (34) |
| Input | Pool mean | Coefficient |
|---|---|---|
| Career VAL | 74.728 | +2.2646 |
| Best 3-season VAL average | 10.391 | +0.445 |
| Seasons in the top 1% of the league by VAL | 0.097 | -0.2247 |
| Seasons as the league's VAL leader | 0.048 | +0.2428 |
| Career playoff VAL | 25.517 | +0.802 |
| Seasons played | 9.262 | -1.382 |
| Intercept | -3.4797 |