Nowitzki Reaches 10,000 Career Rebounds with 13-Board Performance
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki recorded the 10,000th rebound of his career during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 101-94 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
He entered the contest with 9,991 career rebounds, needing just nine more to become the seventh player in NBA history with 27,000-plus points and 10,000-plus boards.
Nowitzki ended up pulling in 13 rebounds, reaching his second-highest total of the season, despite having just six through three quarters.
He thus joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal, Moses Malone and Elvin Hayes in that exclusive group with 27,000 points and 10,000 boards, becoming the first international player to hit both milestones.
The German forward also created his own round-numbers club, as he's the first player in NBA history with 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,000 blocks and 1,000 three-pointers made, per Sportsnet Stats.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is a decent candidate to eventually reach all of those benchmarks, but with just 6,446 career rebounds entering Friday's action, LBJ probably needs at least another six or seven years to reach 10,000 for his career.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant may also eventually hit all of those benchmarks, but it appears he and James are the only real candidates among active players.
The 25,000-point qualification essentially limits the feat to top-notch scorers, as only 19 players in league history have totaled that many points in a career.
It's also rather difficult to combine 10,000 boards and 1,000 blocks with 1,000 three-pointers, although that may not be the case in future years as teams continue to frequently use sharpshooters like Durant and James as power forwards in small lineups.
The 36-year-old Nowitzki was undoubtedly ahead of his time, combining solid big-man stats with a dead-eye jumper that needs to be guarded beyond the three-point line.
All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless specifically noted otherwise.
