Player profile · BOS

Bill Russell

Bill Russell stats, teams and career impact

#24 all-timeCareer averages · 15.1 PPG · 22.5 RPG · 4.3 APGPeak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Position: Center
Final NBA team: Boston Celtics
Height / weight: 6 ft 10 in (208 cm) · 215 lb (98 kg)
Born: February 12, 1934
Died: July 31, 2022 (88 yrs old)
College: San Francisco
NBA seasons: 13 seasons · 1956–57 to 1968–69

Career or season view

Career summaryBill Russell was a center who played 13 NBA seasons, from 1956–57 through 1968–69.

Career PPG: 15.1
Career RPG: 22.5
Career APG: 4.3; #3 in 3 seasons; #24 all-time

Peak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Career overview

Why Bill Russell ranks #24 all time

Bill Russell ranks #24 all time. 10 top-five finishes and 13 top-ten finishes show how long he remained among the league's elite. His #19 full-career value adds a meaningful longevity advantage.

Peak#3 in 1957–58

Best league finish

Sustained excellence10 top-five finishes

13 top-ten finishes

Career breadth13 seasons

963 games · Career Value Rank #19

NBA honors12× All-Star · 5× MVP · 11× All-NBA · All-DefenseContext only; honors are not model inputs.

Head to head

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Full player detailsTeam history, career shooting and sources

Full team history

Teams: Boston Celtics
Greatest Celtics →

Career shooting

NBA regular season

Field goal: 44.0%FG%
Three-point: —3P%
Free throw: 56.1%FT%

963 career games · 40,726 minutes

Sources and updateConventional stats and measurements: Basketball Reference, accessed Sep 13, 2026. hussEyquation ranking data through 2025–26. Life dates: Wikidata; conflicting dates checked against Basketball Reference, accessed Sep 17, 2026.

Traditional box score

Bill Russell stats by season

Start with scoring and impact, then switch views for shooting or the full advanced picture. Career percentages use total makes and attempts.

Box impact is an estimate in points per 100 possessions, not the 0–100 Impact Rate score. Zero is league average; higher is better. Rate rank is a league place: No. 1 is best.

Swipe for PPG · RPG · APG · Box impact · Team · G · GS · MPG →

				pts/100 · higher is better
1968–69	9.9	19.3	4.9	+3.70	BOS	77	0	42.7	43.3%	—	52.6%	#5	459.2
1967–68	12.5	18.6	4.6	+3.10	BOS	78	0	37.9	42.5%	—	53.7%	#5	380.3
1966–67	13.3	21.0	5.8	+4.71	BOS	81	0	40.7	45.4%	—	61.0%	#5	558.3
1965–66	12.9	22.8	4.8	+3.82	BOS	78	0	43.4	41.5%	—	55.1%	#5	501.1
1964–65	14.1	24.1	5.3	+4.77	BOS	78	0	44.4	43.8%	—	57.3%	#4	604.6
1963–64	15.0	24.7	4.7	+4.46	BOS	78	0	44.6	43.3%	—	55.0%	#4	586.1
1962–63	16.8	23.6	4.5	+3.70	BOS	78	0	44.9	43.2%	—	55.5%	#7	529.4
1961–62	18.9	23.6	4.5	+4.02	BOS	76	0	45.2	45.7%	—	59.5%	#5	563.3
1960–61	16.9	23.9	3.4	+3.19	BOS	78	0	44.3	42.6%	—	55.0%	#6	503.3
1959–60	18.2	24.0	3.7	+4.06	BOS	74	0	42.5	46.7%	—	61.2%	#3	541.2
1958–59	16.7	23.0	3.2	+3.91	BOS	70	0	42.6	45.7%	—	59.8%	#3	471.7
1957–58	16.6	22.7	2.9	+3.60	BOS	69	0	38.3	44.2%	—	51.9%	#3	384.2
1956–57	14.7	19.6	1.8	+2.04	BOS	48	0	35.3	42.7%	—	49.2%	#9	168.4
Career	15.1	22.5	4.3	—	BOS	963	—	42.3	44.0%	—	56.1%	—	—

Source: Basketball Reference regular-season totals, accessed Sep 13, 2026.

Film evidence

Bill Russell highlights

Watch the selected footage or film analysis, then use the season record and impact data to put what happened on the floor in context.

Archive retrospective

NBA Vintage: Bill Russell

Archival footage adds essential visual context to an era with thinner box-score coverage, especially for Russell's defense, mobility and transition play.

What these measures mean

Box impact: Estimated points per 100 possessions above that season's league average, from the historical box-score model. Zero is league average; higher is better. Historical defense estimates are included where labeled. This is not the live model's lineup-adjusted estimate.
Impact Rate: A 0–100 score comparing performance within one season. Higher is better. This is a score, not points per possession.
Impact estimate: The season model's final estimated points per 100 possessions above league average, before conversion to the 0–100 Impact Rate score. It includes lineup evidence where available. Zero is league average; higher is better.
Impact Rate rank: The player's place among qualified players in that season's Impact Rate ranking. No. 1 is best. This is a rank, not an impact score.
Value contribution / Season Value: Completed seasons use a fixed-baseline contribution to Career Value. The live season instead uses Season Value, combining that season's impact with workload.
Career Impact Rank: An all-time rank weighted toward the player's best three, five, and ten seasons.

Career Impact Rank#24

3.4 composite · lower is better

Best 5#28

3.4 average league finish

Career Value Rank#19

6,251 total value

Impact Rate: 0–100 score within one season. Higher is better.
Box impact: Estimated points per 100 possessions above league average, from the historical model. Zero is average; higher is better.

Career standing

How Bill Russell ranks all time

These are league placements, not raw scores. Each season is judged against that season's qualified player pool.

Number-one seasons0

Best in the league

Top-five seasons10

Elite finishes

Top-ten seasons13

Upper-tier finishes

Top-10 Impact Margin25.7

Tie-breaker across top-ten seasons

Career Composite Score3.4

Best 3, Best 5, and Best 10 average league finishes receive 50%, 30%, and 20% window weights. Missing seasons receive a replacement finish just below the player's typical qualified field. Lower is better.

Best 3 effective weight: 74%
Missing-season finish: 91.0
Qualified seasons: 13
All-time rank: #24

Strongest seasons

Every season

Bill Russell advanced stats by season

Era-centered box impact supports comparisons through time. Impact Rate and its rank compare players only within that season.

More advanced statsAge, minutes, impact, rank, value and data coverage

					pts/100 · higher is better	0–100 · higher is better
1968–69Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	34	77	3,291	+3.70	97.0	#5	459.2	99th	Modeled
1967–68Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	33	78	2,953	+3.10	96.7	#5	380.3	98th	Modeled
1966–67Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	32	81	3,297	+4.71	96.0	#5	558.3	97th	Modeled
1965–66Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	31	78	3,386	+3.82	95.7	#5	501.1	97th	Modeled
1964–65Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	30	78	3,466	+4.77	96.6	#4	604.6	98th	Modeled
1963–64Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	29	78	3,482	+4.46	96.7	#4	586.1	98th	Modeled
1962–63Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	28	78	3,500	+3.70	93.4	#7	529.4	97th	Modeled
1961–62Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	27	76	3,433	+4.02	95.3	#5	563.3	97th	Modeled
1960–61Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	26	78	3,458	+3.19	93.7	#6	503.3	95th	Modeled
1959–60Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	25	74	3,146	+4.06	97.4	#3	541.2	99th	Modeled
1958–59Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	24	70	2,979	+3.91	97.5	#3	471.7	100th	Modeled
1957–58Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	23	69	2,640	+3.60	97.4	#3	384.2	97th	Modeled
1956–57Historical Defense Estimate	BOS	22	48	1,695	+2.04	89.9	#9	168.4	85th	Modeled

Career movement

Bill Russell's box impact by season

Peak box impact +4.77 points per 100 possessions in 1964–65 · 13 seasons · 40,726 minutes

Box impact estimates points per 100 possessions above each season's league average. Zero is average; higher is better. Rank labels show Impact Rate league places, not ranks on this chart's box-impact scale.

Box impact · points per 100 possessionsMinutesModeled estimate

Player-specific impact scaleWorkload

Career comparison

Compare the shape, not the calendar

Align by NBA experience to compare season one with season one, or by age to compare players at the same stage of life.

Compare with a similar careerOpen full comparison →

Bill RussellLarry Nance

Box impactEra-adjusted points per 100 possessions above league average · higher is better · dashed marker means the player did not play

Bill Russell and Larry Nance era-centered impact values by NBA season number
NBA season	Bill Russell	Larry Nance
1	2.0	0.4
2	3.6	3.7
3	3.9	3.1
4	4.1	4.5
5	3.2	3.7
6	4.0	4.9
7	3.7	3.6
8	4.5	3.9
9	4.8	3.5
10	3.8	4.5
11	4.7	5.3
12	3.1	3.8
13	3.7	1.0

NBA season number

Similar career arcs

Players with careers similar to Bill Russell

The career-similarity score compares era-centered box impact, peak, prime, workload, career length, position, and experience-aligned trajectory. It describes career shape, not playing style, equal ability, or probability.

PF · All-Time Career #71

Larry Nance

career similarity score

89/100 closest-season score · 1964–65 ↔ 1990–91 C · All-Time Career #117

Marc Gasol

career similarity score

89/100 closest-season score · 1964–65 ↔ 2012–13 PF · All-Time Career #10

Bob Pettit

career similarity score

92/100 closest-season score · 1964–65 ↔ 1963–64

How to read this page

Impact Rate shows how strong a player was compared with everyone else that season. Season Value adds how much he played; completed player-profile rows instead show each season's fixed-baseline contribution to Career Value. Career Impact Rank rewards a high peak, a long prime, and repeated seasons near the top. Older seasons use clearly labeled estimates where the NBA did not record today's full set of statistics. Read how every ranking works →

NBA season	Bill Russell	Larry Nance
1	2.0	0.4
2	3.6	3.7
3	3.9	3.1
4	4.1	4.5
5	3.2	3.7
6	4.0	4.9
7	3.7	3.6
8	4.5	3.9
9	4.8	3.5
10	3.8	4.5
11	4.7	5.3
12	3.1	3.8
13	3.7	1.0

NBA season	Bill Russell	Larry Nance
1	2.0	0.4
2	3.6	3.7
3	3.9	3.1
4	4.1	4.5
5	3.2	3.7
6	4.0	4.9
7	3.7	3.6
8	4.5	3.9
9	4.8	3.5
10	3.8	4.5
11	4.7	5.3
12	3.1	3.8
13	3.7	1.0

NBA season	Bill Russell	Larry Nance
1	2.0	0.4
2	3.6	3.7
3	3.9	3.1
4	4.1	4.5
5	3.2	3.7
6	4.0	4.9
7	3.7	3.6
8	4.5	3.9
9	4.8	3.5
10	3.8	4.5
11	4.7	5.3
12	3.1	3.8
13	3.7	1.0