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The player efficiency rating summarizes how impressive or stellar one player has been throughout a game or even a year, which favors all-around players like Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks star had two of the greatest individual NBA seasons of all time in terms of the PER.
Only three players make up the five best PER seasons in the NBA, and here they are.
Best NBA PER seasons of all time, including those of Giannis Antetokounmpo
5) Wilt Chamberlain (1962-1963)
During his prime in the 1960s and the early 1970s, Wilt Chamberlain was a beast, especially in the interior, and the 1962-1963 season was no exception.
Chamberlain averaged a whopping 44.8 points, 24.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game during that season and finished with a 31.82 PER.
The hiccup was that the San Francisco Warriors finished the year with a relatively dismal 31-49 record, a sure sign that Chamberlain needed greater help.
4) Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-2020)
The first of two Giannis Antetokounmpo's GOAT-ish seasons in the list in terms of the PER came in 2019-2020.
Antetokounmpo averaged 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game with a 31.86 PER.
Antetokounmpo was actually on track for a better PER had not the season been marred by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and when it resumed in a bubble in Orlando, his numbers dipped a bit.
3) Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021-2022)
In the NBA's first full season amid the pandemic, Antetokounmpo posted better numbers than the bubble season as he was gunning for back-to-back NBA titles then.
He finished with 29.9 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.1 steals per game in 2021-2022 for a 32.05 PER.
One key highlight of Antetokounmpo's in that year was when he erupted for 50 points on 17-for-21 shooting, only the 12th time ever someone shot 80% or more from the field for a 50-point blast. In the end, though, the Milwaukee Bucks had to relinquish the NBA title.
2) Wilt Chamberlain (1961-1962)
The 1961-1962 NBA season has always been remembered for Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance. However, his season average that year was also monstrous, finishing with an eye-popping 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for a 32.08 PER.
One interesting stat from that season is that Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game, which means he played many overtime games.
1) Nikola Jokic (2021-2022)
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Wilt Chamberlain dominated this list, but the best PER season belonged to someone else, Nikola Jokic.
Chamberlain's GOAT-ish 1961-1962 campaign set the best PER ever until Jokic's MVP season for the Denver Nuggets in 2021-2022 happened. Jokic finished with 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks per game for a 32.85 PER.
Considering that Chamberlain and Antetokounmpo are known rim protectors at their prime (Chamberlain would have easily been at number one if blocks were already being tallied then), Jokic's PER is too impressive for someone who is not even known to be an elite defender.
Jokic's PER dipped a bit the following year, but he got something much better than eye-popping stats: the NBA title.
