What do Westbrook, Green, and Jokić have in common?
On April 1, Evan Turner made the history books, he became the first player to achieve a triple-double with perfect shooting coming off the bench. Interestingly, Turner’s last triple-double dated back to exactly 4 years ago. However, Turner is not the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double with perfect shooting from the field. Five players did it before. If you had guessed that this feat was first achieved by Oscar Robertson, you would have guessed wrong.
First triple-double with perfect shooting was performed by Wilt Chamberlain, who did it three times. Up to this season, he was also the only player to record a perfect triple-double with 30+ points. On February 24, 1967, Chamberlain had 42 points, 30 boards, and 10 assists while shooting 18-for-18 from the open play. Chamberlain would have had more perfect triple-doubles if official statisticians had counted the blocks. His total triple-double tally would have been higher than 78.
Next player who secured a perfect triple-double was Bo Outlaw in 2000. He shot 4-for-4 from the field on March 28, against Boston Celtics. In 2015-16 regular season Draymond Green achieved a triple-double with perfect shooting two times. Against Phoenix Suns in December and against New York Knicks in January 2016. Green shot just 4 times against Suns, versus New York, he went 9-for-9, on both occasions he added 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Russel Westbrook put the perfect triple-double to next level. On March 22, 2017, in a game versus Philadelphia, Russ added to perfect shooting from the field (6-for-6), no missed shots from the free throw line (6-for-6). Up to today, Westbrook remains the only player with this achievement. Westbrook is on pace to finish the third straight season with triple-double averages, something that also Big O could not realize.
The last player before Evan Turner to accomplish a perfect triple-double has been Nikola Jokić. In Denver’s second game of the season, versus Phoenix Suns, Jokić performed flawlessly with all 11 attempts from the open play scored. With this performance, he joined Chamberlain as the only player with 30 or more points triple-double while having no mistakes on the shooting chart.
