Show the numbers
| Points from | 2020-21 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| threes | 28.2 | 28.5 | +0.3 |
| twos | 44.1 | 47.1 | +3.0 |
| free throws | 13.1 | 15.6 | +2.5 |
| All points | 85.4 | 91.2 | +5.8 |
Why?
NBL scoring has gone up, and the obvious suspect is the three. I wanted to split the rise by kind of basket and see where the extra points actually came from.
Every figure here is a regular-season average per team-gameOne club in one game: its players' box-score rows added together. The 165 regular-season games of 2025-26 make 330 team-games. over six seasons, from 2020-21 to 2025-26. Finals are left out because the number of finals changes from year to year. The feed records field goals, threes and free throws, attempted and made, for every player in every game; everything about twos is worked out from those.
Not the long ball
Teams scored 85.4 points a game in 2020-21. After a dip the next season, three rises in a row took it to a high of 92.9 in 2024-25, and 2025-26 finished on 91.2. From the first season to the last, that is 5.8 more a game.
Show the numbers
| Season | Team-games | Points | Field-goal attempts | Free-throw attempts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 324 | 85.4 | 70.6 | 17.2 |
| 2021-22 | 280 | 84.5 | 70.6 | 18.9 |
| 2022-23 | 278 | 88.1 | 70.2 | 20.5 |
| 2023-24 | 280 | 90.6 | 71.6 | 22.9 |
| 2024-25 | 290 | 92.9 | 72.4 | 21.6 |
| 2025-26 | 330 | 91.2 | 72.7 | 20.9 |
Three-point attempts stayed between 26.4 and 29.1 a game. Threes made went from 9.4 a game to 9.5. Teams took a few more and made a smaller share of them: the three-point percentage, pooled as all threes made over all threes attempted in the season, went from 34.7% to 33.1%. Threes were 38.5% of field-goal attempts in 2020-21 and 39.5% in 2025-26.
Show the numbers
| Season | Threes attempted | Threes made | Three-point % | Share of field-goal attempts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 27.1 | 9.4 | 34.7% | 38.5% |
| 2021-22 | 28.1 | 9.1 | 32.4% | 39.8% |
| 2022-23 | 27.9 | 9.6 | 34.4% | 39.7% |
| 2023-24 | 26.4 | 8.9 | 33.7% | 36.9% |
| 2024-25 | 29.1 | 10.2 | 35% | 40.2% |
| 2025-26 | 28.7 | 9.5 | 33.1% | 39.5% |
- threes attempted a game
- 27.1 → 28.7
- 2020-21 to 2025-26
- threes made a game
- 9.4 → 9.5
- three-point percentage
- 34.7% → 33.1%
- pooled across the season
Closer in, and at the line
Split the rise by kind of basket and threes gave 0.3 of the 5.8 points. Twos gave 3.0 and free throws the other 2.5. Teams attempted about as many twos, made more of them, and went to the line more often:
| A team-game | 2020-21 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|
| Twos attempted | 43.4 | 44.0 |
| Two-point % | 50.8% | 53.6% |
| Free throws attempted | 17.2 | 20.9 |
Free-throw attempts peaked at 22.9 a game in 2023-24. Here is every season's points, split three ways.
How the points were made, by season
share of all regular-season points · share from threes at the endShow the numbers
| Season | Threes | Twos | Free throws |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 33.1% | 51.6% | 15.3% |
| 2021-22 | 32.3% | 51.1% | 16.6% |
| 2022-23 | 32.6% | 50.3% | 17.1% |
| 2023-24 | 29.5% | 51.8% | 18.7% |
| 2024-25 | 32.9% | 49.7% | 17.4% |
| 2025-26 | 31.2% | 51.7% | 17.1% |
As a share of all points, threes went from 33.1% to 31.2%. The low was 29.5%, in 2023-24. Free throws went from 15.3% to 17.1%. Twos stayed near half, 51.6% and then 51.7%.
The one club that went long
One club sat well apart in 2025-26. South East Melbourne attempted 36.5 threes a game and made 12.8, at 35.2%. Threes were 45% of their field-goal attempts and 38.2% of their points. Cairns and Melbourne were next, at 29.9 attempts; Illawarra attempted the fewest, 26.2. Opponents attempted 23.8 threes a game against South East Melbourne, the fewest faced by any club. They finished 22–11.
Threes attempted per game, every club, 2025-26
regular season · 33 games each · made and percentage in greyShow the numbers
| Club | Won–lost | Threes attempted | Threes made | Three-point % | Share of points from threes | Opponents' threes attempted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East Melbourne Phoenix | 22–11 | 36.5 | 12.8 | 35.2% | 38.2% | 23.8 |
| Cairns Taipans | 9–24 | 29.9 | 10 | 33.5% | 35.9% | 27.8 |
| Melbourne United | 20–13 | 29.9 | 9.6 | 32.2% | 31.4% | 26.1 |
| Sydney Kings | 24–9 | 29.5 | 10.5 | 35.4% | 31.6% | 32.5 |
| NZ Breakers | 13–20 | 27.6 | 8.5 | 30.8% | 27.8% | 31.1 |
| Perth Wildcats | 21–12 | 27.5 | 8.8 | 32.1% | 29.2% | 29.3 |
| Adelaide 36ers | 23–10 | 27.4 | 9.9 | 36.2% | 32.2% | 28.2 |
| Brisbane Bullets | 6–27 | 26.5 | 7.5 | 28.1% | 27.2% | 28.4 |
| Tasmania JackJumpers | 14–19 | 26.3 | 8.6 | 32.8% | 29.7% | 27.8 |
| Illawarra Hawks | 13–20 | 26.2 | 8.8 | 33.7% | 28.4% | 32.3 |
Adelaide made the highest share of their threes, 36.2%, and Brisbane the lowest, 28.1%. Bryce Cotton made the most threes of any player: from 273 for Adelaide, 38.1%. Nathan Sobey of South East Melbourne made 103 from 293. The most by one club in one game across the six seasons, finals included, was Tasmania's 22 from 42 against Illawarra on 20 February 2022.
More possessions, or more from each?
This is a count of where points came from, not of how fast games were played. Pace, the number of possessions a team has in a game, is not derived here, so this page cannot say whether teams scored more because they had more possessions or because more of them ended in points. Field-goal attempts did rise, from 70.6 a game to 72.7. Counting possessions is what would answer it, and it is the next piece I would read: Has basketball been solved? estimates them from the box score.
Summary
- Points a game
- 85.42020-2191.22025-26
- Threes made a game
- 9.42020-219.52025-26
- The extra 5.8
- +0.3threes+3.0twos+2.5free throws
The working
Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read
- Team-game
- One club's player rows in one game, added up. Regular season: 324, 280, 278, 280, 290, 330 team-games, 2020-21 to 2025-26.
- Derived
- Twos attempted = field goals attempted − threes attempted; twos made likewise. Points from threes = 3 × threes made; from twos = 2 × twos made; from free throws = free throws made. Percentages are pooled: the season's makes divided by its attempts.
- Season length
- 36 regular-season games a club in 2020-21, 28 from 2021-22 to 2023-24, 29 in 2024-25 and 33 in 2025-26. The data stores a season under the year it ends.
- Left out
- Finals, except in the most-threes-in-a-game record. Game 7491 (2022-23, Round 14) has no player rows. No other team-game was missing a stat.
- Pace
- Not derived. Nothing here separates more possessions from more points per possession.
- Read
- 15 September 2026, from Punt's database. Completed games only.
- Not in this article
- Pace, or how next season's scoring will go.
- Sources and terms
- Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.