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Illustrated portrait of NBA player Bill Russell

Bill Russell

Bill Russell stats, teams and career impact

#22 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 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
Best-Season Impact Rank
#4 in 1964–65
Career Impact Rank
#22 all-time
Peak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Career overview

Why Bill Russell ranks #22 all time

Bill Russell ranks #22 all time. 10 top-five finishes and 13 top-ten finishes show how long he remained among the league's elite. His full-career value ranks #19 across 13 seasons. Career Impact Rank averages his best three, five, and ten season ranks, with the most weight on his peak.

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.

Full player detailsTeam history, career shooting and sources

Full team history

Teams
Boston 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.

Swipe for PPG · RPG · APG · Impact · Team · G · GS · MPG →

1968–699.919.34.9+3.70BOS77042.743.3%—52.6%#5459.2
1967–6812.518.64.6+3.10BOS78037.942.5%—53.7%#5380.3
1966–6713.321.05.8+4.71BOS81040.745.4%—61.0%#5558.3
1965–6612.922.84.8+3.82BOS78043.441.5%—55.1%#5501.1
1964–6514.124.15.3+4.77BOS78044.443.8%—57.3%#4604.6
1963–6415.024.74.7+4.46BOS78044.643.3%—55.0%#4586.1
1962–6316.823.64.5+3.70BOS78044.943.2%—55.5%#7529.4
1961–6218.923.64.5+4.02BOS76045.245.7%—59.5%#5563.3
1960–6116.923.93.4+3.19BOS78044.342.6%—55.0%#6503.3
1959–6018.224.03.7+4.06BOS74042.546.7%—61.2%#3541.2
1958–5916.723.03.2+3.91BOS70042.645.7%—59.8%#3471.7
1957–5816.622.72.9+3.60BOS69038.344.2%—51.9%#3384.2
1956–5714.719.61.8+2.04BOS48035.342.7%—49.2%#9168.4
Career15.122.54.3—BOS963—42.344.0%—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
Era-centered box impact
Estimated points per 100 possessions above that season's league average.
Impact Rate Rank
The player's place among qualified players in one season.
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.
Best 5#28

3.4 average league finish

Career Value Rank#19

6,251 total value

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 Score3.5

Equal average of Best 3, Best 5, and Best 10 league finishes. The overlapping windows make this explicitly peak-weighted. Lower is better.

Best 3 weight
63.3%
Score
3.5
Qualified seasons
13
All-time rank
#22
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
1968–69Historical Defense EstimateBOS34773,291+3.7097.0#5459.299thModeled
1967–68Historical Defense EstimateBOS33782,953+3.1096.7#5380.398thModeled
1966–67Historical Defense EstimateBOS32813,297+4.7196.0#5558.397thModeled
1965–66Historical Defense EstimateBOS31783,386+3.8295.7#5501.197thModeled
1964–65Historical Defense EstimateBOS30783,466+4.7796.6#4604.698thModeled
1963–64Historical Defense EstimateBOS29783,482+4.4696.7#4586.198thModeled
1962–63Historical Defense EstimateBOS28783,500+3.7093.4#7529.497thModeled
1961–62Historical Defense EstimateBOS27763,433+4.0295.3#5563.397thModeled
1960–61Historical Defense EstimateBOS26783,458+3.1993.7#6503.395thModeled
1959–60Historical Defense EstimateBOS25743,146+4.0697.4#3541.299thModeled
1958–59Historical Defense EstimateBOS24702,979+3.9197.5#3471.7100thModeled
1957–58Historical Defense EstimateBOS23692,640+3.6097.4#3384.297thModeled
1956–57Historical Defense EstimateBOS22481,695+2.0489.9#9168.485thModeled

Career movement

Bill Russell's career impact by season

Peak +4.77 in 1964–65 · 13 seasons · 40,726 minutes

The same historical box-score model is used for every season, making the career shape comparable through time. The vertical scale adapts to this player's range and always includes zero.

Era-centered box impactMinutesModeled 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.

Open full comparison →
Bill RussellLarry Nance
Era-centered box impactEstimated points per 100 possessions above that season's league average · dashed marker means the player did not play
Bill Russell and Larry Nance era-centered impact values by NBA season number
NBA seasonBill RussellLarry Nance
12.00.4
23.63.7
33.93.1
44.14.5
53.23.7
64.04.9
73.73.6
84.53.9
94.83.5
103.84.5
114.75.3
123.13.8
133.71.0

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.

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 →