Blocks
A block is credited when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt, preventing it from reaching the basket. The shot must be touched before it completes its arc.
Blocks are tracked because rim protection is a specific, measurable defensive skill. A team with an elite shot-blocker changes offensive decision-making around the basket — players adjust their angles, avoid certain areas, and settle for different shots simply because of who is protecting the rim.
Benchmarks
- League average: 0.3–0.5 per game
- Good: 1.0–1.5 per game
- Elite: above 2.0 per game
Real Madrid led the league with 3.9 blocks per game in 2025–26, while teams like Barcelona (1.7) and Panathinaikos (2.0) sat well below the rim-protection standard set by the top defensive units.
In 2025–26, Walter Tavares remained the EuroLeague's premier shot-blocker for Real Madrid — averaging 1.8 blocks per game to lead all players. His presence anchored a team that swatted away 3.9 blocks per game as a unit, the league's highest mark. What the numbers don't capture is the shots never taken — the drives abandoned, the floaters rushed — because Tavares was waiting at the rim.
Tensions
A blocked shot that stays in bounds can be recovered by the offense for another attempt. The block is spectacular and gets recorded; the possession continues as if nothing happened. Blocks that go out of bounds or are recovered by the defense are worth more than blocks that reset the play.
A shot-blocker who averages 2 blocks per game influences dozens more shots that never get attempted — players pump-fake, change angles, or avoid the paint entirely. That deterrence is real defensive value that the box score cannot measure.
Formula
BLK = direct count from official scoresheet
Credited when a defensive player legally deflects a shot attempt. Goaltending — touching the ball on its downward arc — does not count as a block and instead awards the basket.
BLK: Blocks / STL: Steals / PF: Personal Fouls
