Before Friday night, there had been five NBA games in the 52 seasons that blocked shots have been an official statistic in which one player has recorded at least 18 points, 25 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
Each of those five players is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
On Friday night, their exclusive club got a new member. Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler had 18 points, 25 rebounds and eight blocked shots in a 118-109 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
The players who preceded the former Auburn standout in reaching that stat line were:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 27 points, 34 rebounds and eight blocked shots in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 110-100 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 14, 1975.
Elvin Hayes with 22 points, 27 rebounds and 11 blocked shots in the Washington Bullets’ 124-108 victory over the Detroit Pistons on March 3, 1978.
Hakeem Olajuwon with 32 points, 25 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in the Houston Rockets’ 109-94 victory over the Orlando Magic on Dec. 17, 1989.
Shaquille O’Neal with 24 points, 28 rebounds and 15 blocked shots in the Orlando Magic’s 87-85 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Nov. 20, 1993.
Dikembe Mutombo with 19 points, 26 rebounds and nine blocked shots in the Denver Nuggets’ 124-117 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 11, 1994.
With 13 offensive rebounds in Friday night’s game, Kessler became the first of the six players with more than 10. He also became the first to record the numbers in a loss.
The stat line also was reached in two ABA games by another Hall of Fame member, former Carver-Dothan star Artis Gilmore. Gilmore had 34 points, 25 rebounds and nine blocked shots in the Kentucky Colonels’ 137-93 victory over the Carolina Cougars on Dec. 15, 1971, and 22 points, 27 rebounds and eight blocked shots in the Colonels’ 100-96 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 17, 1973.
Kessler’s 13 offensive rebounds tied Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis for the most in an NBA game this season.
Kessler also joined Sabonis as the only players in the NBA this season to have at least 25 rebounds in a game, which the Kings center has done twice.
Friday night’s game marked the second time in 10 days that Kessler’s stats had put him on a short list with some of basketball’s best players. On Feb. 26, Kessler joined Wilt Chamberlain and Nikola Jokic as the only players in NBA history who have had at least 25 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in the same game while also shooting 100 percent from the floor.
In his third NBA season, Kessler has averaged 11.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 blocked shots in 48 games.
Utah plays the Philadelphia 76ers at 6:30 p.m. CDT Sunday at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in its next game.
Friday night’s loss dropped the Jazz to 15-48 in the 2024-25 NBA season – the worst record in the Western Conference.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.