A look at three key numbers related to Wednesday’s game at Target Center between New Orleans and Minnesota (7 p.m., Fox Sports New Orleans, WRNO 99.5 FM):
16: Rank among all NBA players in assists per 48 minutes for Frazier, who hands out an average of 10.0 dimes over a 48-minute span (by comparison, No. 1 Rajon Rondo’s average is 15.9). However, that number actually slightly underestimates the point guard’s distributing prowess since coming to New Orleans, because it also includes the games he played for Portland. Since coming to the Pelicans in mid-March, Frazier is averaging 11.6 assists per 48 minutes. He has a total of 105 assists in 433 New Orleans minutes.
3: Currently available Pelicans who are shooting over 40 percent from three-point range with New Orleans this season. For a second straight season, Luke Babbitt (40.4) will rank among the NBA’s most accurate shooters from long distance, but won’t have enough makes to officially qualify for the league leaders (44 of 109 entering Wednesday’s season finale). James Ennis is a scorching 18/39 (46.2 percent) over his eight games with the Pelicans, while Tim Frazier is 13/29 (44.8). Toney Douglas also has a chance to join the group of players over 40 percent (79/198, which is 39.9). Including qualified players only, there are just 24 NBA players at 40-plus entering Wednesday’s closing slate of regular season games.
18.2: Points per game by Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, the lock for this year’s Rookie of the Year award (Wolves teammate Andrew Wiggins won it in ’15). Towns’ scoring average is the highest by a first-year NBA player since Portland’s Damian Lillard dropped in 19.0 per game in 2012-13. Coincidentally, Lillard captured the ROY trophy that season, besting Anthony Davis. Davis averaged 13.5 points as a rookie, but logged far fewer minutes (28.8 per game) than Lillard (38.6). Towns averages 32.0 minutes with Minnesota.