Who is ‘most valuable’? Measuring the player's production of wins in the National Basketball Association

Abstract

How does one measure the productivity of an individual participating in a team sport? The purpose of this inquiry is to answer this question via an econometric model that links the player's statistics in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to team wins. This model will then be employed in the measurement of each player's marginal product. Such a measurement is useful in answering the question offered in the title, or a broader list of questions posed by both industry insiders and other interested observers. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.