Larry Bird vs. Stephon Marbury: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Stephon Marbury and Larry Bird to determine who has the better numbers. Here you can compare their career totals, points per game, games of 40+ points, 50+, etc. and their year-by-year scoring averages side by side, both in the Regular Season and Playoffs.

Player comparisons:
Career comparison / Season by season / Scoring / Stats / Stats Rankings

Larry Bird is among the NBA's all-time leaders in points and also has one of the highest career averages in league history, and here we compare his scoring stats with those recorded by Stephon Marbury.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Larry Bird has better scoring stats than Stephon Marbury in averages and totals, both in the regular season and Playoffs. However, we won't stop there and we'll go into detail to analyze what these statistics are made up of, from how many games they had in each threshold (30+ points, 40+, 50+, etc.) to their season-by-season scoring averages.

On this page we compare:

Who has better scoring stats? Career Numbers
Games of 30+ points, 40+, 50+, etc
Shooting Stats
Points Year by Year

Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?

Points in the Regular Season

In his 13 NBA regular seasons played, Larry Bird averages 5 points more than Stephon Marbury in his 13 seasons (24.3 points against 19.3), and he also scored a total of 5,494 points more (21,791 vs. 16,297).

Points Per Game

Seasons
Larry Bird 24.3
+5.0
13
Stephon Marbury 19.3
13

Total Points

Seasons
Larry Bird 21,791
+5,494
13
Stephon Marbury 16,297
13

Points in the Playoffs

Similar to what happens in the regular season, in the NBA postseason Larry Bird has a better career point average than Stephon Marbury (+11.2 points per game) and he also scored more points (+3,495).

Points Per Game

Playoffs
Larry Bird 23.8
+11.2
12
Stephon Marbury 12.6
5

Total Points

Playoffs
Larry Bird 3,897
+3,495
12
Stephon Marbury 402
5

Points by Thresholds

Regular Season

60+ Point Games

Larry Bird 1
+1
Stephon Marbury 0

50+ Point Games

Larry Bird 4
+3
Stephon Marbury 1

40+ Point Games

Larry Bird 47
+31
Stephon Marbury 16

30+ Point Games

Larry Bird 223
+106
Stephon Marbury 117

20+ Point Games

Larry Bird 625
+224
Stephon Marbury 401

10+ Point Games

Larry Bird 873
+139
Stephon Marbury 734

1+ Point Games (games with points)

Larry Bird 896
+58
Stephon Marbury 838

0 Point Games (games without points)

Larry Bird 1
Stephon Marbury 8
+7

Playoffs

40+ Point Games

Larry Bird 5
+5
Stephon Marbury 0

30+ Point Games

Larry Bird 43
+41
Stephon Marbury 2

20+ Point Games

Larry Bird 110
+102
Stephon Marbury 8

10+ Point Games

Larry Bird 161
+142
Stephon Marbury 19

1+ Point Games (games with points)

Larry Bird 164
+135
Stephon Marbury 29

0 Point Games (games without points)

Larry Bird 0
Stephon Marbury 3
+3

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

more >>

Regular Season

Stats Per Game

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Larry Bird 24.3 9.6 19.3 49.6 0.7 1.9 37.6 4.4 5.0 88.6 13 897
difference:+5.0+2.8+3.6+6.3+0.5+1.7+5.1+0.1+0.7+10.2+51
Stephon Marbury 19.3 6.8 15.7 43.3 1.2 3.6 32.5 4.5 5.7 78.4 13 846

Total Stats

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Larry Bird 21,791 8,591 17,334 49.6 649 1,727 37.6 3,960 4,471 88.6 13 897
difference:+5,494+2,822+4,010+6.3+342+1,321+5.1+192+333+10.2+51
Stephon Marbury 16,297 5,769 13,324 43.3 991 3,048 32.5 3,768 4,804 78.4 13 846

Playoffs

Stats Per Game

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Larry Bird 23.8 8.9 18.8 47.2 0.5 1.5 32.1 5.5 6.2 89.0 12 164
difference:+11.2+4.2+5.6+11.6+0.3+1.6+4.8+3.2+3.1+14.0+7+132
Stephon Marbury 12.6 4.7 13.2 35.5 0.8 3.1 27.3 2.3 3.1 75.0 5 32

Total Stats

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Larry Bird 3,897 1,458 3,090 47.2 80 249 32.1 901 1,012 89.0 12 164
difference:+3,495+1,308+2,668+11.6+53+150+4.8+826+912+14.0+7+132
Stephon Marbury 402 150 422 35.5 27 99 27.3 75 100 75.0 5 32

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

NBA Champion = NBA Champion

Regular Season

Rookie Season

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 21.3
+5.5
198082
Stephon Marbury 15.8
199767

Season 2

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 21.2
+3.5
1981NBA Champion82
Stephon Marbury 17.7
199882

Season 3

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 22.9
+1.6
198277
Stephon Marbury 21.3
199949

Season 4

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 23.6
+2.3
198379
Stephon Marbury 21.3
199949

Season 5

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 24.2
+2.0
1984NBA Champion79
Stephon Marbury 22.2
200074

Season 6

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 28.7
+4.8
198580
Stephon Marbury 23.9
200167

Season 7

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 25.8
+5.4
1986NBA Champion82
Stephon Marbury 20.4
200282

Season 8

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 28.1
+5.8
198774
Stephon Marbury 22.3
200381

Season 9

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 29.9
+9.7
198876
Stephon Marbury 20.2
200481

Season 10

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 19.3
19896
Stephon Marbury 21.7
+2.4
200582

Season 11

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 24.3
+8.0
199075
Stephon Marbury 16.3
200660

Season 12

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 19.4
+3.0
199160
Stephon Marbury 16.4
200774

Season 13

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 20.2
+6.3
199245
Stephon Marbury 13.9
200824

Stephon Marbury's additional seasons:

* Stephon Marbury played 1 season more than Larry Bird in the NBA.

In that year—his season 14 in 2009—he averaged 3.8 points in a total of 23 regular season games.

Playoffs

Rookie Season

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 21.3
19809
Stephon Marbury 21.3
19973

Season 2

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 21.9
+8.1
1981NBA Champion17
Stephon Marbury 13.8
19985

Season 3

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 17.8
+17.8
198212
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
19990

Season 4

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 20.5
+20.5
19836
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
19990

Season 5

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 27.5
+27.5
1984NBA Champion23
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20000

Season 6

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 26.0
+26.0
198520
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20010

Season 7

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 25.9
+25.9
1986NBA Champion18
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20020

Season 8

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 27.0
+5.0
198723
Stephon Marbury 22.0
20036

Season 9

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 24.5
+3.2
198817
Stephon Marbury 21.3
20044

Season 10

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird -
DNP
19890
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20050

Season 11

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 24.4
+24.4
19905
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20060

Season 12

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 17.1
+17.1
199110
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20070

Season 13

Points per gameYearGames
Larry Bird 11.3
+11.3
19924
Stephon Marbury -
DNP
20080

Stephon Marbury's additional Playoffs:

* In his additional NBA year, Stephon Marbury played in the Playoffs. In those postseasons he averaged 3.7 points in a total of 14 games.

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