Who has the most triple-doubles in NBA playoff history?

Nikola Jokic had another monster performance in the Nuggets closeout win over the Lakers on Monday night, putting up 25 points, 20 rebounds, and 9 assists. It was his second 20/20 game of this series and he fell just one assist shy of his third triple-double in five games.

It’s pretty nuts to think about how routine Jokic has made it look to achieve triple-doubles and he doesn’t seem to slow down at all in the playoffs. Jokic now has a ridiculous 18 triple-doubles in just 73 career playoff games. 

He’s such an incredible player and makes the game look so easy, that it’s easy to take his brilliance for granted. So it’s good to contextualize some of his dominance and put things in historical perspective. Which begs the question, where does Jokic rank in playoff triple-double history?

All-time NBA playoff triple-double leaders

Magic Johnson holds the record with 30 career playoff triple-doubles, edging out LeBron James who currently has 28 to his name. Those are the only two players to ever record more playoff triple-doubles than the Joker, with his 18. 

Russell Westbrook is behind Jokic in fourth place with 12 and Jason Kidd is the only other player to record more than 10 career playoff triple-doubles, as he had 11. It’s a sign of the times that three of the top five are active players, but two of the guys are clearly in the twilight of their careers.

But Jokic is just getting started and it’s remarkable that he’s already third on this list before the age of 30. His 73 playoff games pale in comparison to the guys ahead of him. LeBron has now played in 287 playoff games and Magic Johnson appeared in 190. The Joker is well on his way to setting this record, and likely by a wide margin.

James has put up a triple-double in 9.8% of his career playoff games while Magic did it in 15.8% of his. The Joker is putting them up almost one out of every four times he takes the court, at an absurd 24.6%.

How many players have recorded a triple-double in the NBA playoffs?

There have been 82 players in history to record at least one playoff triple-double, with 22 currently active. 37 players have recorded multiple playoff triple-doubles, and just 11 players have recorded five or more. Jamal Murray is the only other active Nugget to record a triple-double in his playoff career.