Player profile · INO / PHW

Mel Payton

Mel Payton stats, teams and career impact

#670 all-timeCareer averages · 5.4 PPG · 3.6 RPG · 1.1 APGPeak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Position: Small forward
Final NBA team: Indianapolis Olympians
Height / weight: 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) · 185 lb (84 kg)
Born: July 16, 1926
Died: May 12, 2001 (74 yrs old)
College: Tulane
NBA seasons: 2 seasons · 1951–52 to 1952–53

Career or season view

Career summaryMel Payton was a small forward who played 2 NBA seasons, from 1951–52 through 1952–53.

Career PPG: 5.4
Career RPG: 3.6
Career APG: 1.1; #18 in 1952–53; #670 all-time

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

Career overview

Why Mel Payton ranks #670 all time

Mel Payton ranks #670 all time. Across his three best seasons, his average league finish was #60.5. His full-career value ranks #1471, so this placement is driven more by dominance than longevity.

Peak#18 in 1952–53

Best league finish

Sustained excellence2 ranked seasons

450+ minutes required per season

Career breadth2 seasons

111 games · Career Value Rank #1471

Head to head

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Suggested comparisons, not a ranking of search traffic.

Full player detailsTeam history, career shooting and sources

Full team history

Teams: Philadelphia Warriors and Indianapolis Olympians
Greatest Warriors →

Career shooting

NBA regular season

Field goal: 36.3%FG%
Three-point: —3P%
Free throw: 74.6%FT%

111 career games · 1,895 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

Mel Payton 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
1952–53	7.1	4.7	1.2	+1.24	INO	66	0	21.6	35.7%	—	74.5%	#18	83.0
1951–52	2.9	1.8	1.0	-1.56	PHW	45	0	10.5	38.6%	—	75.0%	#67	4.1
Career	5.4	3.6	1.1	—	INO/PHW	111	—	17.1	36.3%	—	74.6%	—	—

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

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#670

69.9 composite · lower is better

Best 5#748

74.9 average league finish

Career Value Rank#1471

87 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 Mel Payton 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 seasons0

Elite finishes

Top-ten seasons0

Upper-tier finishes

Top-10 Impact Margin0.0

Tie-breaker across top-ten seasons

Career Composite Score69.9

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: 96.5
Qualified seasons: 2
All-time rank: #670

Strongest seasons

Every season

Mel Payton 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
1952–53Historical Defense Estimate	INO	26	66	1,424	+1.24	81.9	#18	83.0	65th	Modeled
1951–52Historical Defense Estimate	PHW	25	45	471	-1.56	30.5	#67	4.1	25th	Modeled

Career movement

Mel Payton's box impact by season

Peak box impact +1.24 points per 100 possessions in 1952–53 · 2 seasons · 1,895 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

Early-career comparison

Compare the first 2 seasons

Both players are limited to their first 2 seasons. Later seasons never affect the selection or score, and the result is not a career prediction.

Compare with a similar careerOpen full comparison →

Mel PaytonAlex English

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

Mel Payton and Alex English era-centered impact values by NBA season number
NBA season	Mel Payton	Alex English
1	-1.6	-1.6
2	1.2	0.9

NBA season number · first 2 seasons only

Similar starts

Players with starts similar to Mel Payton

The start-similarity percentile compares era-relative impact, season-relative workload, trajectory, debut age, and role across exactly 2 seasons and 2,351 eligible starts. Higher means closer; it is not a probability or forecast.

SF · All-Time Career #106

Alex English

99.9

start similarity percentile

Impact: very closeWorkload: very closeTrend: very closeAge: closeRole: very close

Medium evidence · first 2 seasonsClosest early-season pairing · 1952–53 ↔ 1977–78 SF · All-Time Career #1190

Ron Anderson

99.7

start similarity percentile

Impact: very closeWorkload: very closeTrend: very closeAge: very closeRole: very close

Medium evidence · first 2 seasonsClosest early-season pairing · 1952–53 ↔ 1985–86 SG · All-Time Career #2494

Juan Toscano-Anderson

99.4

start similarity percentile

Impact: very closeWorkload: very closeTrend: very closeAge: very closeRole: close

Medium evidence · first 2 seasonsClosest early-season pairing · 1952–53 ↔ 2020–21

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 →