There can be no argument regarding Wilt Chamberlain’s status as one of the all-time greats in the NBA. Chamberlain was an icon and a trailblazer, finding incredible success and setting some of the most unbreakable NBA records that have stood the test of time. Chamberlain was a statistical anomaly, but there was one stat that even Wilt didn’t care for.
During an interview, Wilt Chamberlain spoke about the triple-double as a statistic, and how it can be misleading for fans. He said that fans get tricked into thinking that triple-doubles are great, and some of the players who put up triple-doubles like Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor would actually be quite upset with the way they played despite the good numbers.
“This guy had a triple-double. And then the fans think that he just did something spectacular. Some of these triple-doubles of Jerry West, Oscar Roberston, Elgin Baylor had, they would have thought they were having the worst day in the world…”
Wilt’s aversion to triple-doubles is fascinating to hear about. Especially considering that he is 6th on the all-time triple-doubles list in NBA history. But perhaps he had a point when talking about the triple-double being an illusion.
A player like Russell Westbrook is a great example of this. Russ holds the record for the most triple-doubles in NBA history. But in many of those games, he had a poor shooting night and was able to get a large number of points because of the number of shots he took.
That is not to say that Westbrook’s numbers don’t help the team win, as he has a highly favorable win record when getting a triple-double. But the stat alone doesn’t automatically mean that a player had a strong night on the court. If anything, it just means that the player was able to bring double-digits in three categories, as the name suggests.
