StaTuesday: Brook Lopez has become Bucks’ Sultan of Swat

Brook Lopez has been having a block party this season and the rest of the NBA has been invited – and is attending.

The Milwaukee Bucks center tied a career high with eight blocks on Sunday against Phoenix (he was originally credited with nine but that was since changed to one fewer). It was just the latest multi-block game for Lopez – his 32nd on the season – in a year in which he’s become Milwaukee’s Sultan of Swat.

While Lopez has been a 3-point shooting machine since he’s arrived in Milwaukee, he’s also revitalized his presence on the inside. His 123 blocks so far this season already is just one fewer than he had in in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons with Brooklyn, when he had 124 both years, and a far cry from the 98 in his one season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017-18. Lopez set a career high in blocks (no matter the metric – raw number, per 36, block %) last season, his first with the Bucks.

In 2019-20, Lopez has nine games this season with 5+ blocks. Four of those instances have come since the start of the new year, a span of 14 games.

Lopez had seven such games all of last season and, with the caveat that statistics for blocks are a little spotty prior to the 1983-84 season, he has the sixth-most games with 5+ blocks over the course of a season in Bucks history. If Lopez can keep up his current pace, he’d finish with 15 games of 5+ blocks, tied for second most in franchise annals.

MOST GAMES 5+ BLOCKS IN A SEASON IN BUCKS HISTORY

This isn’t just about quantity, it’s also about proficiency.

Lopez has an 8.6% block percentage, which is tops the NBA. It’s also one of the best marks in Bucks history, although, again, see the above caveat. At the very least we know it’s one of the best marks this century.

In fact, since 2000, of the three instances of a better block percentage that Lopez’s current 8.6%, all had fewer minutes played over that season than Lopez’s 1,244 through his 47 games thus far.

HIGHEST BLOCK % IN BUCKS HISTORY

This isn’t just about Lopez’s place in Bucks history, though.

His five games with 6+ blocks this season is tied for the most in the NBA with Portland’s Hassan Whiteside. No other player has more than one such game.

There have been 11 instances this season in which a player had seven or more blocks in a game. Lopez has three (tied for the most with Whiteside).

Since the 2000-01 season, Lopez’s 8.6% block percentage would rank him ninth over that span among players (min., 1,000 minutes and 15.0 mpg).

HIGHEST BLOCK % IN NBA SINCE 2000-01