Wilt Chamberlain put together some of the most astounding statistics in NBA history, the kind that seem like they’ll never be broken.
At the moment, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome is outdoing a mark from Chamberlain’s most hallowed season.
You know the season: 1961-62, when Chamberlain played for the Philadelphia Warriors. That’s the year he scored 100 points in a game. It’s the season he scored 50 points per game.
Jerome hasn’t done either of those things, and of course he seems highly unlikely to do either of those things.
But there’s a rate stat, points per minute, that tells us just how good Jerome has been in the early going of this season.
Ty Jerome Ahead of Wilt Chamberlain
In that famous season, Chamberlain actually averaged more than 48 minutes per game. He basically never came out, and he had some overtime factored in to make it so he played more minutes per game than a 48-minute NBA game length.
So that means that while Chamberlain averaged about 50 points per game, it was more or less a point a minute — 1.04 points per minute, to be exact.
So far this season, Jerome is averaging 1.09 points per minute.
Chamberlain’s 1.04 rate is the best in NBA history. Joel Embiid actually has the second best, at 1.03 points per minute in 2023-24.
Jerome is beating both of them right now.
This is INSANE 🤯 https://t.co/5YXXvU4WJT
— Real App (@realapp) October 26, 2026
Of course, players have put together three-game stretches like this before. It stands out more at the start of a season.
And of course, there’s almost no chance Jerome can keep this up for close to a full season.
But if you want to truly understand how good Jerome has been so far — he’s scoring more frequently than Chamberlain did in the season when he averaged 50 per game.
Stats and a Caveat
Of course, you’ll know that there were no 3-point shots in Chamberlain’s day. Jerome gains points from beyond the arc that Chamberlain never could’ve gotten even if he had been capable of such makes.
Still, Jerome is putting up astounding numbers. Through three games, he’s averaging 34.7 points per game on 56.3% from the field, 42.9% from 3-point range and 88.5% from the foul line.
He’s averaging 5.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game for good measure.
Jerome is 29, and he’s proving that his bench brilliance in 2024-25 in Cleveland, and his 15 games while not injured in 2025-26 with Memphis, were no fluke.
What Jerome is doing right now isn’t even about whether he can keep it up. It’s just worth appreciating the fact that Jerome is on a historic run right now — yes, Ty Jerome has been the most dangerous scorer in the NBA in the first week of the season.
Grizzlies’ Ty Jerome Keeping Wilt Chamberlain Company in NBA History