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Giannis Antetokounmpo is in rare NBA company with four franchise records in the major stat categories

JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·4 min read

Giannis Antetokounmpo became the Milwaukee Bucks' all-time career rebounder on Sunday in a win over the Houston Rockets, bypassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in that department and adding another notch in his remarkable career.

Giannis, in his 11th NBA season, is now the Bucks' all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists and blocks. He's got quite a ways to go to catch Quinn Buckner in steals, but if he does, he'd be on track to become one of only two players to have all five of the major stat categories conquered. Only Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, who has the top spot by considerable margins in all five categories, has a greater stranglehold on a franchise's leaderboard than Giannis.

These are the players who share the unique achievement of top spot for a franchise in four of five major stat categories.

More: Giannis Antetokounmpo is the all-time points and rebounds leader in Bucks history; where does he rank in other categories?

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

  • Seasons: 11 (active, totals through Dec. 17, 2023)

  • Points: 17,065

  • Rebounds: 7,165

  • Assists: 3,503

  • Steals: 852 (fourth, with leader Quinn Buckner at 1,042)

  • Blocks: 936

Giannis is having a better-than-average season in steals, with 36, after averaging roughly 64 over the past four seasons. By that average, he'd still be almost three full seasons away from the top steals mark, but perhaps a bumper crop this year will help him reach the milestone in closer to two full seasons from right now.

He's chasing No. 2 Paul Pressey (894) and No. 3 Sidney Moncrief (874) and must also hold off teammate Khris Middleton, who's in fifth (819).

Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

  • Seasons: 13

  • Points: 29,277

  • Rebounds: 5,836

  • Assists: 5,012

  • Steals: 2,306

  • Blocks: 828 (second, with leader Artis Gilmore at 1,029)

Gilmore's time in Chicago was over when Jordan entered the league, and he's the only player standing in the way of Jordan claiming all five categories during his storied career.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James reacts to a basket during the fourth quarter of a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, Jan. 5, 2007, in Milwaukee.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James reacts to a basket during the fourth quarter of a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, Jan. 5, 2007, in Milwaukee.

LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

  • Seasons: 11

  • Points: 23,119

  • Rebounds: 6,190

  • Assists: 6,228

  • Steals: 1,376

  • Blocks: 695 (fourth, with leader Zydrunas Ilgauskas at 1,269)

Hot Rod Williams and Larry Nance both rank ahead of James, and Ilgauskas's career began before James arrived, so he was never in position to get the blocks record.

Hakeem Olajuwon is the career leader in four categories for the Houston Rockets.
Hakeem Olajuwon is the career leader in four categories for the Houston Rockets.

Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets

  • Seasons: 17

  • Points: 26,511

  • Rebounds: 13,382

  • Assists: 2,992 (fourth, with leader James Harden at 4,796)

  • Steals: 2,088

  • Blocks: 3,470

Allen Leavell and Calvin Murphy, whose careers pre-dated Olajuwon's prime, both had more assists in their Rockets career, so Olajuwon never held all five titles.

Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Seasons: 14

  • Points: 19,201

  • Rebounds: 10,718

  • Assists: 4,216

  • Steals: 1,315

  • Blocks: 1,590

Garnett won a championship with Boston but is truly the greatest player in Timberwolves lore. Karl-Anthony Towns is second place in three categories but is just less than 7,000 points away, more than 4,500 rebounds shy and nearly 900 blocks away.

The New York Knicks' Patrick Ewing grabs a rebound away from the Detroit Pistons' Bill Laimbeer in the first period of the playoff game at Madison Square Garden, May 12, 1990.
The New York Knicks' Patrick Ewing grabs a rebound away from the Detroit Pistons' Bill Laimbeer in the first period of the playoff game at Madison Square Garden, May 12, 1990.

Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks

  • Seasons: 15

  • Points: 23,665

  • Rebounds: 10,759

  • Assists: 2,088 (12th, with leader Walt Frazier at 4,791)

  • Steals: 1,061

  • Blocks: 2,758

As storied as the Knicks are, Ewing rose to the top of their leaderboards, though he's nowhere close in assists. He's the only player on this list to never win an NBA title.

Milwaukee Bucks center Kareen Abdul-Jabbar shoots against the Golden State Warriors' Nate Thurmond during a game in March 1974.
Milwaukee Bucks center Kareen Abdul-Jabbar shoots against the Golden State Warriors' Nate Thurmond during a game in March 1974.

Does this mean Kareem Abdul-Jabbar no longer holds any Bucks records?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who didn't have the luxury of a three-point line during his Bucks days — not that he'd have used it; he famously has one career three-point basket — also played four of his six seasons in Milwaukee before steals and blocks were regarded as official stats. He'd almost surely still have the blocks record if he'd been given stats from those seasons.

But to find him atop a Bucks franchise leaderboard, you'll have to use per-game stats. He remains the franchise leader in points per game (30.4), rebounds per game (15.3), blocks per game (3.4, again, that's over two seasons), and "win shares" according to Basketball-Reference, with 114.7 in his career (Giannis is second at 100.3).

If you wanted to argue that he's the Bucks' best player in franchise history, you'd have a case if you focused on the peak excellence of Abdul-Jabbar's six seasons in town as Giannis closes in on double the number of years as a Buck. Antetokounmpo, of course, didn't enter the league as a finished product, as Abdul-Jabbar did.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis and five others who hold four major NBA franchise records