NBA Player Performance Analysis (1990–2024)
This project analyzes NBA player performance trends from 1990 to 2024 using season-level data. The goal was to clean, explore, visualize, and interpret long-term changes in scoring, assists, 3-point shooting, and player height. The dataset was filtered to include only NBA players, and the selected features were Season_Year, PTS, AST, 3PM, and height_cm. After cleaning, the final dataset contained 7,633 rows and 6 columns.
Dataset Overview
Source: players_stats_by_season_full_details.csv
Filtered to NBA players only
Years included: 1990–2024
Final shape: 7,633 rows × 6 columns
Selected features: Season_Year, PTS, AST, 3PM, height_cm
Data Cleaning
- Removed non-NBA rows
- Dropped missing values
- Extracted numeric year from season strings
- Converted selected columns to numeric types
- Filtered dataset to valid timeline (1990–2024)
- Calculated yearly averages
- Validated summary statistics
Research Questions
- How have points and assists per player changed over time?
- How did 3-point shooting evolve between 1990 and 2024?
- Did the average height of NBA players change over time?
- What is the relationship between scoring, assists, height, and 3PM?
- Does the NBA rely more on isolation scoring or on teamwork over time?
Visualizations and Insights
Visualizations and Insights
Average Points and Assists per Player (1990–2024)
Average 3-Point Shots Made per Player
Average Player Height Over Time
Points vs Assists Over Time
Points-to-Assists Ratio
Correlation Matrix
Summary of Findings
- Average points per player increased slightly over time.
- Assists per player grew steadily, indicating improved teamwork and spacing.
- Three-point shooting increased significantly after 2010.
- Player height remained stable, suggesting strategy and spacing mattered more than size.
- The points-to-assists ratio reveals tactical differences across eras.
Overall Result
The NBA evolved from slower, isolation-heavy basketball into a modern, fast-paced, perimeter-oriented, analytics-driven style of play.






