Age

Stats

PTS, REB, AST, BLK, STL, YRS

Claim

Being younger at the draft predicts more career points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals per game and more career seasons.

Test

Drafted players, 1947-2019. Under 19.5 n = 163. Age 22.5 and up n = 1,197. Outcomes: career PTS, REB, AST, BLK, and STL per game, and career seasons. The only input is age at the draft. No post-draft information is used. A positive gap means the younger group is higher.

Result

PTS +4.3 (p<0.001) · REB +1.4 (p<0.001) · AST +0.7 (p<0.001) · BLK +0.3 (p<0.001) · STL +0.2 (p<0.001) · YRS +4.3 (p<0.001)

Verdict

Confirmed. Feeds the player model: Yes.

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