If you watch basketball at all, chances are you’ve heard the term “double-double.”
It’s a pretty easy concept to understand, but there are many different types of duplicates that can sometimes make things a bit complicated.
To help with that, let’s discuss what a double-double is, what the different types of double-doubles are, and some interesting facts about the statistic that you may not know.
What is a Double-Double?
A double-double occurs when a player reaches double figures in 2 different statistical categories.
There are 5 basic individual statistics in basketball.
- Points:
- Reflections
- It helps
- Stealing
- Blocks
Any player who scores 10 or more in two of these individual stats achieves a double-double.
For example, 12 points and 11 rebounds
(Note: Any player who gets another 10 in THREE individual stats achieves a triple-double.)
Notice that I haven’t mentioned anything about the other 3 categories.
This is because it doesn’t matter if a player gets a 0 for all of those, as long as he has double figures in 2 of the categories, it’s still a double double.
The most common double-double is achieved in points and rebounds.
However, smaller players have come into their own, combining points with either assists or steals.
So the beauty of the double double is that any position on the floor can achieve it because all stats for it are considered equally.
NBA Double-Double Leaders
Most career double-doubles?
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain is the career leader with 968 double-doubles.
However, there is some question as to whether he should be the career leader, as the double-double only became an official NBA stat after his retirement.
Some people consider Tim Duncan to be the career leader with 841 because all of his double-doubles came after it became an official NBA stat.
However, Wilt Chamberlin was among the boys for the most part during his NBA career, so there’s no doubt that he was able to put up a lot of points and rebounds on a regular basis, whether that was an official statistic or not.
Longest streak of double-doubles?
Wilt Chamberlain
Unsurprisingly, Wilt also holds this record, but you might be surprised at how long his streak is.
In 227 consecutive games, Wilt Chamberlain recorded double-doubles in points and rebounds.
To put that into context, he recorded a double-double in almost every game of 3 consecutive NBA seasons.
Even more impressive, Wilt Chamberlain has the next 2 longest double-double streaks in the NBA as well, one at 220 games and the other at 133.
“Special” double double leader.
Wilt Chamberlain
The NBA classifies some double-doubles as “special”, for example if you reach 30 or 40 in each of 2 stats.
And again, Wilt Chamberlain leads in these 2 nominations as well.
In his 30s, he had 124 games with both points and rebounds.
To show how impressive that is, that’s more than 4x more than all other 30-30 double-doubles by any other player in NBA history COMBINED.
Wilt is also the only NBA player to record a 40-40 double-double, accomplishing the feat 8 times.
With the most double-doubles in points and assists?
John Stockton
John Stockton has the most double-doubles, including assists, in an NBA career with 714 games.
Stockton was a pick and roll specialist, especially with his teammate Karl Malone.
The two of them picked apart NBA defenses for years with that action, which allowed Stockton to rack up both points and assists.
Most double-doubles in points and blocks.
Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon finished his career as the NBA’s all-time blocks leader.
Due to his excellent shot blocking skills, he also had many games where he was able to reject 10 or more shots.
This led to him becoming the NBA’s all-time leader in double-doubles that included blocks with 11.
The youngest NBA player with a double-double.
Tracy McGrady
Tracy McGrady is the youngest NBA player to record a double-double at 18 years and 175 days.
Many other teenage NBA players have recorded double-doubles, including LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Jaylen Duren.
The oldest NBA player with a double-double.
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo was able to record a double-double at the age of 42 years and 289 days, scoring 10 points and 15 rebounds in one game.
This is the only recorded double-double in NBA history by a player over the age of 40.
Conclusion
A double-double is a great stat for players to aspire to because it means they do several things well on the basketball court and are versatile players who are good at different things.
Even better, it’s an achievement that any player can achieve, regardless of what position they play, as any 2 categories in double figures can count for a double-double.
Whether you’re a big post who dominates like Wilt Chamberlain or a non-big point guard who can distribute like John Stockton, a double-double is definitely something you should strive to achieve on the court.
