How to play NBA Career Path
NBA Career Path works like the MLB version: five clues about a player’s whole career, a running clock and nine guesses. You pick a team and an era, and the mystery player is someone who spent time with that team in that era.
How a round works
Choose a team and one of three eras: 2000–present, 1980–1999 or 1960–1979. The era is set by the year a player’s time with the team began. To be a puzzle player, he needs at least 50 games or 750 minutes with the team.
There are five clues, and the first two are free. The first lists every team he played for in order, with years, using the name each team had at the time: the Seattle franchise appears as the Sonics rather than the Thunder, for example. The second gives his career averages for points, rebounds and assists. Later clues describe his role, share a notable fact, and finish with his steals, blocks and shooting percentage.
Scoring
- Your score is the time on the clock, in seconds, plus a penalty for each extra clue you reveal. Lower is better.
- Extra clues cost 5 seconds for the first, 10 for the second and 15 for the third.
- A wrong guess doesn’t add time, but it uses up one of your nine guesses.
- You can give up after three guesses.
- Practice puzzles have a leaderboard for each team and era. Daily puzzles have a leaderboard for each team and day.
The Daily Challenge
Every team gets one shared puzzle each day, identical for everyone. The day changes at midnight US Eastern time, and the new puzzles are ready shortly after. The era rotates by weekday: Monday to Wednesday uses 2000–present, Thursday to Saturday use 1980–1999, and Sunday uses 1960–1979.
Some franchises, such as the Raptors, didn’t exist yet in the older eras, so fewer teams have a puzzle on those days. Signed-in players get one scored attempt per puzzle.
Around the League
Solve every team’s daily puzzle on the same day to make the Around the League board, ranked by order of completion and by combined time. On days when fewer teams have a puzzle, fewer solves are needed.
Tips
- The team list in the first clue is your best starting point. Short stints often point to veterans who bounced around.
- Career averages tell you a lot about role. A high assist number points to a guard, high rebounds to a big man.
- Think about the era. The three-point line, for example, didn’t arrive until 1979–80.
Where the data comes from
Player stats and team histories come from BALLDONTLIE, a basketball statistics service.