By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
When Friday’s (15/1) game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks finished, Luka Doncic had 28 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds next to his name on the stats sheet. That was one of those “One rebound shy of yet another triple-double,” cases and it would remain as such if not for a later “correction” on the player’s statline by the league.
According to Mavs PR, the NBA credited Doncic with an extra rebound so his boards in the game are now officially 10. Which essentially means that the Slovenian point forward registered his 28th triple-double in the NBA (he also had a rare one in Spain before joining the Mavericks so it’s technically 29th overall career-triple doubles. For now).
Doncic evolved into a triple-double factory and numbers-producing machine already by his second season in the NBA so adding another one to his collection has become a pretty much habit for him. Still, reaching 28 triple-doubles early in his third year in the league remains pretty damn impressive and what is even more extraordinary is that Doncic has now tied the number of triple-doubles that Michael Jordan recorded in his entire career of 15 years.
Doncic is now tied with Jordan for the 16th-most triple-doubles in the history of the NBA. Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons is next on the list among active players, having 30 triple-doubles following the one he posted in a win over the Miami Heat Friday. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (who is currently making triple-doubles look like child’s play) is the top-ranked European player with 46 triple-doubles, which put him at the 8th top spot.