The Phoenix Suns’ Bradley Beal has played 23 games so far this season. He is averaging 17.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals on a $50 million contract. That’s a nicer way of saying Beal has been having an underwhelming season thus far as one-third of the Suns’ Big Three, with the other two being Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Regardless, Beal is apparently leading the NBA in one special stat: shoelace-tying time.
Of course, shoelace tying time is neither an actual stat the NBA itself keeps nor does it impact Suns games in any way. But a seemingly innocuous observation from NBA analyst and stat guru Zach Lowe prompted Synergy stat analyst Todd Whitehead to do some deep digging.
“Why are Bradley Beal’s shoes coming untied multiple times per game?” Lowe wrote on X. “Some working member of the media needs to investigate. He has to lead the league in in-game shoe-tying instances per 36 minutes.”
Bradley Beal Ties His Shoelaces a Lot, Apparently
Lo and behold, Whitehead confirmed Lowe’s hypothesis—sort of. Beal does tie his shoelaces a lot and leads the NBA in shoelace-tying time, taking 64 seconds to complete what is arguably a very simple process.
However, there is a caveat to Whitehead’s findings. As he himself admitted in his own X account, his “advanced stat” used “skeletal player-tracking data to look for instances where each player’s thumbs were near one of his ankles.” Meaning, that adjusting one’s socks—or scratching an itch perhaps—might be construed as tying shoelaces as well.
The method might not be perfect, but two stats experts can’t be wrong, right?
