Fathers and sons have been a prominent part of recent NBA history. The 2024-25 season began with LeBron James and Bronny James becoming the first father-son duo in league history to play in the same game, and second-generation players are becoming far more frequent in the NBA as a whole. There are 29 of them in total in the league right now, and one of them just joined his father to make a bit of history.
Scotty Pippen Jr., the far less heralded son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, racked up 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the Memphis Grizzlies in a 128-104 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday. That gave him the first triple-double of his young NBA career. His father, a six-time champion with the Chicago Bulls, earned 17 triple-doubles in his Hall of Fame career. Some helpful research revealed that this makes them the first father-son pair in the NBA play-by-play era, which started in 1996-97, to each record triple-doubles.
The very first father-son, triple-double duo in NBA history was Dolph and Danny Schayes. The elder Dolph Schayes, a Hall of Famer, recorded three career triple-doubles (1951, 1957 and 1960), per Basketball Reference. His son, Danny Schayes, filled up the stat sheet on Dec. 22, 1982, while playing for the Utah Jazz.
So why have there been only two father-son NBA duos to post triple-doubles? Well, remember, most of the most famous basketball families are largely built around a single star. Kobe Bryant had 21 triple-doubles in the NBA, for example, but his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant never had one. It’s a similar story for Stephen Curry, who has 10, and his father Dell, who has none. In one ironic case, it is the less famous family member with the triple-doubles. Mychal Thompson has two triple-doubles, for instance, but Klay Thompson has yet to record one.
The obvious set you’d think would have notched triple-doubles in their career would be Domantas and Aryvdas Sabonis. Domantas is an All-Star with the Sacramento Kings, and Arvydas is a Hall of Famer, and both are known for their passing…
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