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For the first time in NBA history, one player will lead the league in both assists and rebounds per game.<\/p>\n
Rarely in the 53 years since he played his final NBA game has Wilt Chamberlain been mentioned as frequently as he was in 2025-26.<\/p>\n
A month ago, Miami\u2019s Bam Adebayo sparked all sorts of media mentions of Chamberlain\u2019s legendary 100-point performance by scoring 83 against Washington<\/a>. Two nights later, Oklahoma City\u2019s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored more than 20 points in his 127th consecutive game<\/a>, breaking Chamberlain\u2019s record of 126 set from 1961 to 1963.<\/p>\n Then there is the current Rookie of the Year race<\/a>, as hotly contested as any in recent memory, pitting Charlotte\u2019s Kon Knueppel vs. Dallas\u2019 Cooper Flagg. The former Duke roommates are vying for, of course, the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy that accompanies the media-voted award to top newcomers.<\/p>\n Now, with the season\u2019s statistical books set to close Sunday, there\u2019s one more Wilt connection: Denver\u2019s Nikola Joki\u0107 is about to become the first player in NBA history to lead in both rebounds per game (12.9) and assists per game (10.9).<\/p>\n The only time even a variation of that occurred came in 1967-68 when \u2026 wait for it \u2026 Chamberlain led the NBA in both total rebounds (1,992) and total assists (702).<\/p>\n Totals carried more weight back then, with many players striving to appear in most or all of their teams\u2019 games. For the record, Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson averaged the most assists (9.7) in 1967-68 but played only 65 games for Cincinnati to Chamberlain\u2019s 82. He totaled 633 assists, 69 fewer than Wilt.<\/p>\n Notice too that while Robertson was the scoring champ at 29.2 ppg, he really was never given credit for being the first player to top the NBA in scoring and assists in the same season. That acclaim went to Nate \u201cTiny\u201d Archibald in 1972-73, when the Kings\u2019 slick point guard checked all four boxes: total points, total assists, points per game and assists per game.<\/p>\n Chamberlain in 1968 checked three of four: total rebounds, rebounds per game (23.8) and total assists. Joki\u0107 also is on track to get three: rebounds per game, assists per game and total assists (696). Karl Anthony-Towns (879), Rudy Gobert (872) and Donovan Clingan (869) all have more boards than Joki\u0107 (828) heading into the final weekend.<\/p>\n The Denver center\u2019s statistical feat and the Nuggets\u2019 active 11-game winning streak \u2013 they\u2019re 14-2 since March 11 \u2013 should boost his case for Most Valuable Player the way he has helped boost his team in the West playoff seedings. How much remains to be seen: Averaging a triple-double last season, from the center position, only got the three-time MVP up to second in the balloting last spring.<\/p>\n Some historical context is in order here: Through the 1965-66 season, only two centers, Chamberlain twice and Boston\u2019s Bill Russell once, ever averaged as many as 5.0 assists in a season. Joki\u0107, by comparison, hit 6.1 in his third season, has averaged 7+ assists for the past eight years and has a career average of 7.5. This is his second season in a row averaging a triple-double, with 34 of them in 64 appearances so far.<\/p>\n There have been other big men adept at delivering the ball. Among them: Bill Walton, Arvydas Sabonis (and his son Domantas), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Alvan Adams, Vlade Divac, Tom Boerwinkle, Marc Gasol.<\/p>\n But Wilt\u2019s shift from the most dominant scorer the NBA ever has seen to a top assists man was seismic. As he once said, bemused with his own versatility: \u201cIt\u2019s like Babe Ruth leading the league in sacrifice bunts.\u201d<\/p>\n How it happened: Chamberlain had been traded from San Francisco to Philadelphia the previous season. His old Warriors coach, Alex Hannum, had the big man\u2019s utmost respect. And vice versa. Hannum knew what buttons to push with Wilt and challenged him to put individual stats aside in pursuit, finally, of a championship.<\/p>\n Hannum later told author Terry Pluto for his book \u201cTall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA\u201d, that Wilt suggested a new focus. \u201c[He] said, \u2018You know, I can pass the ball as well as anyone in basketball,\u2019 I said, \u2018Fine, let\u2019s see it\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Together, they decided to move Chamberlain to the high post. That way, teammates such as Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham had room to attack the basket. And the big man could flex his skill at setting them up.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d pass the ball to him and cut past him,\u201d Cunningham told Pluto. \u201cSome of the plays were like the old Globetrotters routines where Wilt would stick the ball in your stomach \u2026 but then he\u2019d pull the ball away and pass it to an open man under the basket. He did it all with his one huge hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Hannum: \u201cWilt handled the basketball like you or I would a grapefruit. He had tremendous court vision and timing with his passes.\u201d<\/p>\n That formula helped the 76ers produce one of the greatest single seasons in NBA annals. They went 68-13, setting a record for victories, and breezed to the 1967 championship with an 11-4 playoff record. For the first time since he entered the league in 1959, Chamberlain wasn\u2019t the scoring champ. He averaged 24.1 points, 15.5 off his career average. He went from taking 24% of Philadelphia\u2019s shots the previous season to 14%, but his assists rose to 7.8, more than double his career mark through seven seasons.<\/p>\n In 1967-68, he upped his assists to 8.6 per game, mostly to show that he could.<\/p>\n Said Chamberlain: \u201cThe way I passed the ball in those years may have been the thing of which I am most proud, because people said, \u2018Wilt Chamberlain was selfish, Wilt Chamberlain was one-dimensional.\u2019 When the truth was that Wilt Chamberlain was finally with a team where he was allowed to show he could pass the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Joki\u0107 has demonstrated his vision and his willingness to share the ball from the start. His single-season high of 19.5 field-goal attempts per game, from last year, ranks tied for 473rd ever. Only Dwight Howard (12,016) has taken fewer shots while scoring at least 17,000 points than Joki\u0107 (12,262).<\/p>\n Earlier this season, Joki\u0107\u2019s 11th in the league, he broke the record for assists by a center, a record that took Abdul-Jabbar (5,660) 20 seasons to set. Fellow Nuggets get advised when they join the team to always keep their hands up, anticipating passes that maybe only Joki\u0107 can see. Even when they\u2019re no-look.<\/p>\n Teammate Bruce Brown told The Athletic a few years back: \u201cHe threw two corner passes to me, and I was not ready. I fumbled them out of bounds. And I was like, \u2018Oh, s\u2014, you literally have to be ready at all times because you just never know with him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nuggets might not always know when it\u2019s coming but they know well from whom.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n