Russell Westbrook will retire as the NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles, but he might not have that title by the time his Denver Nuggets teammate Nikola Jokić is done.
The three-time NBA MVP posted 27 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists on Thursday in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, giving Jokić the 139th triple-double of his career. That moves ahead of Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson for the third-most ever.
Only Westbrook (200) and Oscar Robertson (181) have more.
Few statues are built on the basis of being third-best at something, but Jokić appears to have a shot of catching Westbrook (though it’s not like he needs to do so for a statue). Westbrook currently has 61 more triple-doubles than Jokić, but Westbrook is 36 years old and Jokić is 29. That gives the big man plenty of runway to stat-sheet-stuff his way to history.
Jokić posted 85 triple-doubles in the four full seasons since his first MVP award and already has nine in 17 games this season. That pace of triple-doubles in 27.3% of games played works out to Jokić needing to play roughly 223 games to catch Westbrook, or less than three seasons.
So barring a major injury or sudden drop-off in form, Jokić appears to have a pretty good shot.
That ongoing chase is only a small part of a season in which Jokić again appears to be the frontrunner for MVP. It’s not only because of his formidable counting stats either, as his impact on his team is … stark:
Despite Jokić continuing his MVP form, it’s been a challenging season for the Nuggets, who are 11-9 after falling to the Cavs. Denver still has its stars, but has also seen some attrition since winning its title in 2023, such as the losses of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown. It hasn’t been easy finding replacements.
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