While the NBA did not start tracking triple-doubles until 1979-80, rebound statistics have been recorded since 1950-51, so the list is undeniable.
The likes of Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook have been some of the most impressive in NBA history when it comes to recording triple-doubles.
Here, we have looked into the top 20 players with the most triple-doubles in NBA history.
20. Michael Jordan
Any NBA list without Jordan on it feels incomplete. A six-time NBA champion and 10-time scoring champion, Jordan was generally good for a few assists and rebounds a game, too.
He averaged 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game over his career, as well as a league-leading 30.1 points per game, and grabbed 28 triple-doubles, his best coming with 47 points in 1989.
19. Grant Hill
Hill may not have been one of the very best scorers of the ball, but his well-rounded game saw him pick up 29 triple-doubles.
Over his career, he averaged 16.7 points, six rebounds and 4.1 assists. He led the NBA in triple-doubles in 1995-96, with 10.
18. John Havlicek
Havlicek was an eight-time NBA champion, and was a crucial asset in those Boston Celtics title wins due to his abilities in multiple areas.
Havlicek was largely a good scorer, as well as a very useful assister and rebounder. His best season, 1970-71, saw him average 28.9 points, 7.5 assists and nine rebounds.
He recorded eight of his 31 career triple-doubles that year.
17. Rajon Rondo
Rondo had 11 different seasons in which he recorded at least one triple-double. His most was six, in both 2011-12 and 2015-16.
He regularly averaged more than 10 assists per game, and in total in his career, Rondo registered 32 triple-doubles.
=14. Ben Simmons
Simmons’ scoring is perhaps hindered by the fact he does not want to shoot the ball from behind the three-point line – he has only attempted 36 in his career.
That means, though, that he gets a lot of assists, looking to recycle the ball out there, while at 6ft 10in, he obviously rebounds very well and scores well inside the three-point line.
As a result, Simmons currently has 33 triple-doubles to his name.
=14. Draymond Green
Green registered 13 triple-doubles in the 2015-16 season, sometimes just scraping to 10 assists or rebounds.
The Golden State Warriors forward has one interesting triple double in his career, in which he did not score 10 points, but had 10 assists and steals each and 11 rebounds.
During his career so far, he has registered 33 triple-doubles, with one coming last season.
=14. Bob Cousy
Cousy played 14 seasons in the NBA, and only had three seasons without registering a triple-double.
His sixth season in the league was his best for them, as he registered eight of the 33 in his career then.
13. Fat Lever
There’s a big jump from 33 to 43 on the career triple-doubles list, with Lever surpassing Cousy comfortably.
The numbers Lever achieved in a single season are also far higher than most below him on this list.
In 1984-85 and 1985-86, Lever had just two triple-doubles, but he added 16 the following season, and 11 the year after that.
12. Giannis Antetokounmpo
There’s another sizeable jump from Lever to Giannis, as the Milwaukee Bucks star has 56 triple-doubles in his career so far.
Early in his career, Giannis’ assist numbers were not fantastic, but they’ve risen in recent seasons and that’s reflected in his triple-double numbers.
In the last two seasons, Giannis has picked up 21 triple-doubles, and averaged 6.5 assists in both of those seasons – his best averages for assists in his career to date.
11. Larry Bird
One of the most well-rounded players in NBA history, Bird was one of the league’s early triple-double leaders.
He ended his career with 59 triple-doubles, and had two seasons in which he grabbed 10 of them.
On three occasions, Bird had a 40-point triple double, with his best a 49-point, 14-rebound and 12-assist return.
10. Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis is one of a number of active players climbing up the triple-double leaderboard.
His numbers have risen markedly in recent seasons, with 14 triple-doubles in 2022-23, 26 the following season, and 10 last season.
That currently puts him on 68 triple-doubles, a good number for a man who’s played center of late.
9. Wilt Chamberlain
One of the very best scorers and rebounders in the history of the NBA, Chamberlain finished his career on 31,419 points, and a league-leading 23,924 rebounds.
He supplemented those numbers with 4643 assists during his career, registering 78 triple-doubles, with 31 coming in one season.
8. James Harden
One of the very best players in the NBA around 2016-2020, Harden had his best season in terms of triple-doubles during that period.
In 2016-17, the then-Houston Rockets star registered 22 triple-doubles, with his best a 40-point return.
In total so far in his career, Harden has 80 triple-doubles, and given three of those came last season, it seems a safe bet he’ll continue to add more.
7. Luka Doncic
There are only three active players with more triple-doubles than Doncic, but he’s climbing the list quickly, with 82 already in seven seasons.
In the last two seasons alone, Doncic has registered 26 triple-doubles.
The best of his career so far was a phenomenal performance in which he dropped 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists when he was playing for the Dallas Mavericks in December 2022.
6. Jason Kidd
Only two men in NBA history have more assists than Kidd, who was one of the best providers for team-mates the game has ever seen.
His average assists per game (8.7) are not far lower than points per game (12.6), but he managed to tie them both together with rebounds to end his career with 107 triple-doubles.
5. LeBron James
The leading points scorer in NBA history, with 42,184 points, LeBron has also finished as the leading assister in a season, too.
Adding those into a career average of 7.5 rebounds, for one of the best blockers in the game, it’s little surprise LeBron has as many as 122 triple-doubles.
4. Magic Johnson
In 13 seasons in the NBA, Johnson managed to rack up 138 triple-doubles.
In nine of those seasons, he registered more than 10 triple-doubles, with his most of 18 coming in 1981-82, as the LA Lakers guard popularised the feat.
Johnson even managed one triple double in the final season of his career, after missing the previous four years.
3. Nikola Jokic
A center who essentially plays like a point guard, Jokic is an absolute unicorn in the way he does things. Last season, he literally averaged a triple-double: 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists.
He’s one of only three players to average a triple-double through a season, and he registered 34 of his 164 in 2024-25.
On that evidence, it looks as if he’s going to continue climbing up the list in years to come.
2. Oscar Robertson
The game’s early triple-doubles leader, Robertson registered 181 of them between 1960-1974.
In his very first season in the league, Robertson had 26 triple-doubles, and the following season, he added another 41. That season, he averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists – the first season ever in which a player averaged a triple-double.
1. Russell Westbrook
One of the most athletic players in the history of the league, Westbrook has been as proficient in every type of scoring as he has been in rebounding, while also being an elite passer of the ball.
All of that put together sees him lead the league in triple-doubles, with 203 so far.
Westbrook has the best season ever in terms of triple-doubles, with 42 in 2016-17. That was the first of three consecutive seasons in which he averaged a triple-double.
The 2016-17 season was his best, with averages of: 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists.
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