During Sacramento’s game against Golden State on Thursday night, Domantas Sabonis recorded his league-leading 39th double-double with 18 points and 13 assists. It also came with a one-point win. Only Nikola Jokic (39), Anthony Davis (37), Giannis Antetokounmpo (33), and Rudy Gobert (30) have more than 30 double-doubles this season.
However, three days prior, on Monday night in a 15-point win against Atlanta, Sabonis recorded his 38th double-double and entered history. He scored 14 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. This was Sabonis’ 25th consecutive double-double tying Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson for the second-longest streak in franchise history.Â
As previously mentioned, Sabonis now has 26 consecutive double-doubles and needs just four more to break the franchise record of 29. Subsequently, this record is also held by Robertson. Robertson played with the Cincinnati Royals from 1960-1970, where he was a 10-time All-Star and Rookie of the Year. During his tenure, he led the league in assists per game seven times and points per game once. The franchise would eventually move to Sacramento.
Related: The 6 most talked about cities for NBA Expansion, including Mexico City and Nashville
Oscar Robertson’s record could be broken by Domantas Sabonis against his former team
Sacramento’s next four games are against Dallas, Memphis, Miami, and Indianapolis. How fitting would it be for Sabonis to break the record against his former team and in the state where Robertson played high school basketball and became a part of history? In 1955, Robertson was on the first all-black high school basketball team (Crispus Attucks) to win a state championship in the country.
Sabonis has 295 double-doubles, which ranks just outside the top 30 in the history of the NBA. However, he’s recorded 116 double-doubles in 137 games with the Kings. This places him sixth all-time in franchise history. It also means, that 84.6% of the time he plays for Sacramento, he’s going to record a double-double. And if he maintains this current pace over the remaining 40 games, he’ll record another 33 double-doubles.Â
Related: See where Domantas Sabonis ranks among NBA MVP candidates
This would give Sabonis a total of 71 for the season and be a new career high for him. It would tie him with Kevin Garnett for the second most double-doubles all-time in a single season in NBA history. Hakeem Olajuwon holds the record with 72.
If Sabonis were to record those other 33 double-doubles, he would have sole possession of third place in franchise history with 148. He would still be 97 double-doubles shy of Chris Webber (245) and 130 behind franchise leader DeMarcus Cousins (278).
Since Sabonis became a full-time starter in 2019, he’s been averaging around 50 double-doubles per season, 49.4 to be exact. And last season set a new career high of 65 double-doubles, subsequently ranking 22nd in NBA history for a single season. He’s only recorded 50 or more twice in his career but is on pace to surpass that number this season. Sabonis is having another strong year as he helps to lead the Kings back to the playoffs for a second consecutive season.Â
- Domantas Sabonis Stats: 61% FG, 40.4% 3P, 67.7% FT, 20 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 7.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 3.3 TOV
The Kings are on a seven-game road trip, with five games against current playoff teams. After playing Golden State Thursday, they have six remaining games on this trip away from the Golden 1 Center. The Kings are the seventh seed and just a half-game behind six-seeded New Orleans and Phoenix in the Western Conference.
Sacramento is also just a half-game ahead of eighth-seeded Dallas. Regardless of the individual record pursuit by Sabonis, the team needs to come away with a winning record on this road trip.
