Five stats to know about Kobe Bryant’s triple-double in the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
1. Bryant’s 21 triple-doubles are third-most among active players, trailing LeBron James (37) and Rajon Rondo (22).
Spans Between 1st/Last Triple-Double
Longest in NBA History
2. Bryant is one of four players with multiple triple-doubles this season. The others are Rondo (3), Eric Bledsoe (2) and Michael Carter-Williams (2).
3. Bryant’s nine turnovers are his most on a night he's had a triple-double.
4. Bryant is the first Lakers player with a triple-double against the Nuggets since Lamar Odom had one in April 2007.
He’s the second player to have one against the Nuggets this month, along with James Harden (Dec. 13). He’s the first to have one against the Nuggets in Denver since Jason Kidd in January 2008 (Josh Smith and Kidd had triple-doubles against the Nuggets in a three-day span).
5. One thing the 36-year-old Bryant is not: the oldest player to have a triple-double. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that honor is held by Karl Malone, who was 40 when he had one as Bryant's teammate against the Spurs in 2003.
But Elias also notes that Bryant is only the third NBA player to have multiple triple-doubles in a season at age 36 or older. The other two are Wilt Chamberlain (two in 1972-73) and Jason Kidd (two in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011).
One last nugget: Bryant finished with 23 points. He's the second-oldest player to have 20 points in a triple-double, surpassed by only Artis Gilmore, who was a week older than Bryant when he had a triple-double for the Bulls in the 1984-85 season.
