According to interviews with every team, David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal found that half the league's teams this season have at least one statistician who helps make in-game, draft-day and trade-deadline decisions.

The list accounts for all six division leaders, including the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, who have a data analyst traveling with the team.

These 15 teams that have invested heavily in statistics have combined to win 59.3% of their games this season. The 15 teams without such analysts have won 40.7% of their games, and only three?the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks?are on pace to make the postseason.

"If you took LeBron off the Cavaliers, you could give them 10,000 number crunchers, and it wouldn't make a difference," says David Kahn, the Minnesota Timberwolves' president of basketball operations.