The first three weeks of the 2014-15 NBA season are in the books. In that time 169 total games have been played, with three of them including triple-doubles. It’s no surprise that one of those triple-doubles belongs to Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo (Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry each have one as well).
Dating back to the 2008-09 season, the first year in which he recorded one, Rondo has more triple-doubles than any other NBA player. Including the playoffs, Rondo owns 30 triple-doubles in the past seven seasons. His total would likely be even higher if he hadn’t missed a year of action with an ACL tear.
LeBron James is second on that list with 28.
Rondo has played nine games this season, and he’s just one rebound and one assist away from having triple-doubles in three of them. Against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 5, Rondo logged 13 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. Nov. 12 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder he went for 20-9-12 and Nov. 17 against the Phoenix Suns he posted a 14-10-9 stat line.
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Rondo is leading the NBA in assists at 11.8 per game, but that’s nothing new for him. Twice before he’s finished at the top of the league in that category, including in 2011-12 when he averaged 11.7.
Rondo’s rebounding is what is particularly impressive this year. He’s always been a very good rebounder for a point guard, with a career-average of 4.7 per game. However, in this young season Rondo is currently pulling down exactly eight boards per contest.
Rondo is officially listed by the NBA as 6’1″. In the history of the league, no player his height or shorter has ever averaged eight or more rebounds in a season.
His scoring average this year is 10.4 points per game, giving Rondo a stat line of 10.4-8.0-11.8 for the season. If he keeps that up it’s going to place him in some extremely elite company. Only three players have ever before averaged a double-double with eight or more in the third category–Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson.
For Chamberlain, assists were the small number. He put up an absurd 24.3 points, 23.8 rebounds and 8.6 assists in 1967-68. Robertson and Johnson are the only two NBA players to ever average at least 10 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Should Rondo do it this season it’ll be the first time it’s happened since Magic’s 16.8-8.6-10.5 in 1982-83.
Now here’s where things get really interesting: With 106 assists through nine outings, Rondo is just two shy of averaging an even 12 per game. Robertson accomplished the 10-8-10 feat in three seasons (including a triple-double year in 1961-62), but his high for assists among those campaigns was 11.5.
No NBA player has ever averaged at least 10 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists. Rajon Rondo has a shot to be the first.