The fight for triple-double in the NBA is a recent, modern battle, enhanced by the consumerism of highlights and overreaction to any statistic no matter how empty it may be. A fight in which the players have become fully involved and that continually leaves us sometimes somewhat embarrassing situations, such as some ' theft' of a rebound , an anger over an error after making an assist or a check because the coach takes off the track to the player when he had few captures or passes to complete the precious feat.
Before the triple-double was seen as a milestone, not as a constant. Something that very few managed to reach. His king was Oscar Robertson , the first player who averaged such statistics for a full season: 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists in the 61-62 course. Something unique and incomparable until more than fifty years later Russell Westbrook arrived: he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 catches and 10.4 passes to the basket in the 16-17 campaign.
The base of the Thunder took the MVP even though his team only managed to be sixth in the Western Conference. It was considered, as with Robertson, that it was going to be something unique and almost unrepeatable.
They were wrong. Not only with Westbrook, who again averaged a triple-double in the next two seasons, but with the entire league.
Evolution of triple-doubles in the NBA
In the last ten years the total triple-doubles made by the NBA players has increased exponentially in each season. That Russell Westbrook MVP being the turning point for a surrealist war without a barracks. 23 on 09-10, 37 on 10-11, 18 on 11-12, 42 on 12-13, 46 on 13-14, 46 on 14-15, 75 on 15-16, 117 in 16-17, 108 in 17-18 and 127 in 18-19. This year we have not yet reached the equator of the regular league and have already achieved more than fifty games of more than ten points, ten rebounds and ten assists.
Together with Westbrook we have LeBron James , who used to perform some every year but is now unleashed : he has achieved a triple-double against all the teams in the league in his career and has been nine this season, exceeding eight last campaign and two of who seems to be the new king of this discipline: Luka Doncic . The Slovenian now has eleven, improving the age records of any player in history, above the eight he added in his rookie year and now reaching the best figures of Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd, dominators of this facet.
Triple-double leaders by season
Kidd got 13 in 07-08, and the twilight of his career coincided with several years in which no one exceeded ten triple-doubles. Until Westbrook's eleven on 14-15. From that moment, an exponential madness : now Doncic has already eleven and LeBron nine, but Nikola Jokic adds seven, Westbrook six and they follow behind Antetokounmpo , Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons with three.
The fight for statistics has generated a shower of criticism of many players, accused of looking too keen that 10-10-10 ignoring the needs of his team. Westbrook was accused of ' stealing' the rebounds of the Thunder pivots and had to go out to defend himself: "I have learned that if I am the one who captures the rebound and launches the transition, it is better for our team," despite the jokes of his some companions, who also depend on the numbers to win their next contract: "Sometimes he steals some bounce," Carmelo Anthony joked. And that fierce fight for the leadership that Doncic and LeBron maintain this year leaves details as strange as the Slovenian has more rebounds (9.7 per night) than pivots as good in this section as Anthony Davis (9.4) or Serge Ibaka (8.4). Westbrook and LeBron , meanwhile, average 7.8. Both, along with Doncic , among the 30 best rebounders in the league.
Statistical stuff.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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