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Johnson vs Haywood

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
JohnsonWinner
85.6

Johnson wins: Longevity, Honours

Haywood
85.6

Haywood wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Basketball

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Dennis Johnson
85.6

Johnson leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. Three NBA titles and Finals MVP in 1979 with Seattle.

1. Dennis Johnson
85.6
2. Spencer Haywood
85.6

Category breakdown

Season form · Points per game

Career timeline · Points per game

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through season 5 · Points per game
1. 🇺🇸 Spencer Haywood5 seasons played · career day 1,825129.5 points per game
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Dennis Johnson5 seasons played · career day 1,82675.6 points per game
-41.6% vs Haywood at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Johnson009.221.956.8133.4
🇺🇸 Haywood003050.6129.5205.2

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricJohnsonRetiredHaywoodRetired
NBA titles31
Finals MVP awards1
All-Star selections55
All-Defensive selections9
Career points15,535
ABA MVP awards1
Career points per game19.2
Olympic golds1
Dominance w25%8084
Peak w20%9094
Longevity w20%8678
Honours w20%8682
Statistics w15%8892

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Johnson85.6
Haywood85.6
The people
Johnson
Haywood

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Make your case for Johnson vs Haywood. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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