More so than any season in recent memory, the NBA is a collection of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
After 20-ish games, we have seven teams with winning percentages above .609, nine teams who sit below .391, and a whole bunch of traffic in between.
The divide doesn't stop at the team level. Check out the gap between the top-10 nERD players:
| Rank | Player | Team | nERD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Harden | HOU | 7.7 |
| 2 | LeBron James | CLE | 6.6 |
| 3 | Stephen Curry | GS | 6.0 |
| 4 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | MIL | 5.6 |
| 5 | Anthony Davis | NO | 5.2 |
| 6 | LaMarcus Aldridge | SA | 4.8 |
| 7 | Kyrie Irving | BOS | 4.7 |
| 8 | Clint Capela | HOU | 4.4 |
| 9 | Damian Lillard | POR | 4.2 |
| 10 | Kevin Love | CLE | 3.8 |
nERD is a cumulative stat, so it'll be exceedingly difficult for anybody to catch up with Harden. For that matter, the chances of anybody cracking into the top-four will be a Herculean task.