Steve Nash vs. Jayson Tatum: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Jayson Tatum and Steve Nash 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

Jayson Tatum has one of the highest career point averages in NBA history, and here we compare his scoring stats with those recorded by Steve Nash.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Jayson Tatum has better scoring averages both in the regular season and Playoffs and also scored more points in during the postseason while Steve Nash scored more points in the regular season. 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.

Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?

Points in the Regular Season

In his 8 NBA regular seasons played, Jayson Tatum averages 9.3 points more than Steve Nash in his 18 seasons (23.6 points against 14.3). On the other hand Steve Nash scored a total of 3,603 points more than Jayson Tatum (17,387 vs. 13,784).

Points Per Game

Seasons
Steve Nash 14.3
18
Jayson Tatum 23.6
+9.3
8

Total Points

Seasons
Steve Nash 17,387
+3,603
18
Jayson Tatum 13,784
8

Points in the Playoffs

In the NBA postseason Jayson Tatum has a better career point average than Steve Nash (+7 points per game) and he also scored more points (+864).

Points Per Game

Playoffs
Steve Nash 17.3
12
Jayson Tatum 24.3
+7.0
8

Total Points

Playoffs
Steve Nash 2,072
12
Jayson Tatum 2,936
+864
8

Points by Thresholds

Regular Season

60+ Point Games

Steve Nash 0
Jayson Tatum 1
+1

50+ Point Games

Steve Nash 0
Jayson Tatum 5
+5

40+ Point Games

Steve Nash 2
Jayson Tatum 29
+27

30+ Point Games

Steve Nash 39
Jayson Tatum 162
+123

20+ Point Games

Steve Nash 309
Jayson Tatum 375
+66

10+ Point Games

Steve Nash 875
+325
Jayson Tatum 550

1+ Point Games (games with points)

Steve Nash 1,177
+593
Jayson Tatum 584

0 Point Games (games without points)

Steve Nash 40
+39
Jayson Tatum 1

Playoffs

50+ Point Games

Steve Nash 0
Jayson Tatum 2
+2

40+ Point Games

Steve Nash 1
Jayson Tatum 5
+4

30+ Point Games

Steve Nash 9
Jayson Tatum 34
+25

20+ Point Games

Steve Nash 48
Jayson Tatum 84
+36

10+ Point Games

Steve Nash 103
Jayson Tatum 115
+12

1+ Point Games (games with points)

Steve Nash 115
Jayson Tatum 121
+6

0 Point Games (games without points)

Steve Nash 5
+5
Jayson Tatum 0

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

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Regular Season

Stats Per Game

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Steve Nash 14.3 5.2 10.6 49.0 1.4 3.2 42.8 2.5 2.8 90.4 18 1,217
difference:+9.3+3.0+7.2+3.1+1.2+3.9+5.8+2.0+2.6+6.4+10+632
Jayson Tatum 23.6 8.2 17.8 45.9 2.6 7.1 37.0 4.5 5.4 84.0 8 585

Total Stats

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Steve Nash 17,387 6,321 12,892 49.0 1,685 3,939 42.8 3,060 3,384 90.4 18 1,217
difference:+3,603+1,532+2,463+3.1+139+242+5.8+400+217+6.4+10+632
Jayson Tatum 13,784 4,789 10,429 45.9 1,546 4,181 37.0 2,660 3,167 84.0 8 585

Playoffs

Stats Per Game

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Steve Nash 17.3 6.2 13.2 47.3 1.5 3.7 40.6 3.3 3.7 90.0 12 120
difference:+7.0+1.9+5.3+3.4+0.9+3.2+5.8+2.3+3.0+5.9+4+1
Jayson Tatum 24.3 8.1 18.5 43.9 2.4 6.9 34.8 5.6 6.7 84.1 8 121

Total Stats

Pts FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A% Yrs Gms
Steve Nash 2,072 749 1,584 47.3 178 438 40.6 396 440 90.0 12 120
difference:+864+234+657+3.4+114+402+5.8+282+366+5.9+4+1
Jayson Tatum 2,936 983 2,241 43.9 292 840 34.8 678 806 84.1 8 121

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

NBA Champion = NBA Champion

Regular Season

Rookie Season

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 3.3
199765
Jayson Tatum 13.9
+10.6
201880

Season 2

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 9.1
199876
Jayson Tatum 15.7
+6.6
201979

Season 3

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 7.9
199940
Jayson Tatum 23.4
+15.5
202066

Season 4

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 8.6
200056
Jayson Tatum 26.4
+17.8
202164

Season 5

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 15.6
200170
Jayson Tatum 26.9
+11.3
202276

Season 6

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 17.9
200282
Jayson Tatum 30.1
+12.2
202374

Season 7

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 17.7
200382
Jayson Tatum 26.9
+9.2
2024NBA Champion74

Season 8

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 14.5
200478
Jayson Tatum 26.8
+12.3
202572

Steve Nash's additional seasons:

- Steve Nash played 10 seasons more than Jayson Tatum in the NBA.

In those years—his seasons 9 to 18, from 2005 to 2014—he averaged 15.8 points in a total of 668 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 18.8 ppg and his lowest 6.8.

Playoffs

Rookie Season

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 1.3
19974
Jayson Tatum 18.5
+17.2
201819

Season 2

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 5.5
19984
Jayson Tatum 15.2
+9.7
20199

Season 3

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash -
DNP
19990
Jayson Tatum 25.7
+25.7
202017

Season 4

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash -
DNP
20000
Jayson Tatum 30.6
+30.6
20215

Season 5

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 13.6
200110
Jayson Tatum 25.6
+12.0
202224

Season 6

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 19.5
20028
Jayson Tatum 27.2
+7.7
202320

Season 7

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 16.1
200320
Jayson Tatum 25.0
+8.9
2024NBA Champion19

Season 8

Points per gameYearGames
Steve Nash 13.6
20045
Jayson Tatum 28.1
+14.5
20258

Steve Nash's additional Playoffs:

- During his 10 additional NBA seasons, Steve Nash played in 6 Playoffs. In those postseasons he averaged 19.8 points in a total of 69 games. His highest playoff average during that period was 23.9 ppg and his lowest 12.5.