In the NBA, it's all about winning the game.
That's obviously a reductive statement; a player can perform well but lose a game. A team can outplay another but lose because the other team catches fire from 3-point range. Injuries, officiating and random luck all play a factor in which teams win or lose.
In the end, however, all that matters is whether or not you win. That's what goes into the official standings, that's what determines if a team makes the playoffs, and the first team to four wins moves on in the playoffs.
We're not talking about process, we're talking about outcome. And a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers achieves a winning outcome more than any other.
Tracking player wins
The method of tracking individual player wins is not a new one, but it's also not as prominently discussed as which players have the most points, the most triple doubles, the most buzzer beaters.
It's a simple process. If a player entered a game and their team wins, they are credited with a win. They don't have to be the leading scorer, or have a positive plus-minus, or play a certain number of minutes. If they play, they get credit for the win or loss.
The very best players in the NBA tend to drive winning at the highest levels, so any leaderboard of the players with the most "wins" is covered in superstars. Yet it also tends to include valued role players who fill in around those stars and elevate winning.
The top 5 of the leaderboard for most wins in the past six seasons (as provided by Dan Feldman of Dunc'd On Basketball, for games played through December 19th) is largely what you would expect. Giannis Antetokounmpo is fifth with 241 wins in that time span. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is fourth, the quintessential role player on multiple title teams in that span. Nikola Jokic is third with 255, and Jayson Tatum is second at 257.
Who is first? It's not a superstar like Luka Doncic or Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry. It's not LeBron James, who has been on mediocre regular season teams most of the last six seasons in Los Angeles. It's a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers - and not anyone you would expect.
It's not Donovan Mitchell, who had strong seasons with the Utah Jazz before coming to Cleveland but has missed enough time to finish just outside of the Top 15. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are too young to feature. Jarrett Allen went through too many losing seasons in that span.
The answer, believe it or not, for the winningest player in the NBA over the last six seasons? Georges Niang.
Georges Niang can't stop winning
Six seasons ago, Georges Niang first cracked the rotation for the Utah Jazz. He played in 66 of Utah's 72 games that season, and the Jazz went 41-25 in those games, a 51-win pace over a full season. The next season the Jazz finished 52-20 and Niang appeared in all 72 games, a bench sniper who earned himself a role on a really good Jazz team.
Niang then hit free agency and signed with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year contract. He was a regular rotation player for Philly, playing 154 games in two seasons of a possible 164. The Sixers went 51-31 in his first season and 54-38 in his second, and the wins kept piling up. Niang's reliability and health allowed him to be present for almost all of those 105 wins.
Finally, Niang landed in Cleveland ahead of the 2023-24 season. He has not missed a single game in two seasons; only he and Jarrett Allen have appeared in all 29 games this season, and last season no one played more than Allen's 77 games. Again, being consistently available on good teams has allowed Niang to sneak his way to the top of the leaderboard.
Tatum is only a handful of wins behind Niang, so if the Cavaliers falter or he does sustain an injury, he could lose the top spot. Even so, for a player whose flaws as a player are so often magnified, Niang's ability to be in the rotation for so many good teams cannot be overlooked.
All hail the winningest player in the NBA, Georges Niang!