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NBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.

Joe Fulks

Power forwardNBA legend

Career at a glance

Joe Fulks played 8 NBA regular seasons between 1946 and 1954, appearing in 489 games and averaging 16.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He spent his whole career with Philadelphia (1946–54, 489 games). His best scoring season was 1948–49 with Philadelphia: 26.0 points per game over 60 games.

The season table marks him as the league leader in scoring twice. Championship season: 1946–47 (Philadelphia). In the playoffs he appeared in 6 postseason runs (31 games, 19.0 points per game).

Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 8,000 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total).

whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.

About Joe Fulks

Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks (October 26, 1921 – March 21, 1976) was an American professional basketball player. The NBA's first scoring champion, he was sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.

Born
October 26, 1921 Birmingham, Kentucky, U.S.
Listed height
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight
190 lb (86 kg)
Position
Power forward
High school
Kuttawa (Kuttawa, Kentucky)
College
Murray State (1941–1943)
Playing career
1946–1954

Career highlights and awards

  • BAA champion (1947)
  • 2× NBA All-Star (1951, 1952)
  • 3× All-BAA First Team (1947–1949)
  • All-NBA Second Team (1951)
  • BAA scoring champion (1947)
  • NBA 25th Anniversary Team
  • No. 26 retired by Murray State Racers

Career statistics

NBA regular season
YearTeamGPMPGFG%FT%RPGAPGPPG
1946–47†Philadelphia60–.305.730–.423.2*
1947–48Philadelphia43–.259.762–.622.1*
1948–49Philadelphia60–.313.787–1.226.0
1949–50Philadelphia68–.278.696–.814.2
1950–51Philadelphia66–.316.855*7.91.818.7
1951–52Philadelphia6131.2.312.8256.02.015.1
1952–53Philadelphia7029.8.346.7275.52.011.9
1953–54Philadelphia618.2.266.5711.7.52.5
Career48923.4.302.7665.31.216.4
All-Star29.0.409.7006.02.512.5
NBA playoffs
YearTeamGPMPGFG%FT%RPGAPGPPG
1947†Philadelphia10–.288.787–.322.2
1948Philadelphia13–.242.810–.221.7
1949Philadelphia1–.000.000–.0.0
1950Philadelphia2–.192.500–1.07.5
1951Philadelphia2–.327.7418.0.526.0
1952Philadelphia323.3.152.7784.0.75.7
Career3123.3.258.7825.6.419.0

Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).

Profile observation date unavailable.

Height
6′ 5″
Weight
190 lb
Position
Power forward
Jersey
Not listed
Country
USA
School / last affiliation
Not listed
Draft year
Not listed
Draft pick
Undrafted / not listed

Height, Weight, Position, Country: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.

Roster observations

These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.

No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.

Social profiles

Profile source

Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.

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