The quadruple-double is one of the NBA’s rarest creatures, the kind of line that still stops you cold when you see it. Triple-doubles have become background noise.
Quadruple-doubles? Those live in another universe.
Since the league began tracking blocks and steals in 1973-74, only four players have officially done it: Nate Thurmond, Alvin Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. And for a few days in March 1990, there was a fifth.
Thurmond got there first, and he did it in style. On October 18, 1974, in his first game with the Chicago Bulls, he posted 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks against the Atlanta Hawks.
Blocks had only been an official stat for one season at that point, and Thurmond was already 33 years old, deep into the final stretch of his career. It would take another 12 years before anyone else matched him.
Robertson followed on February 18, 1986, and remains the only guard on the list - and the only player to reach the mark through steals. In a 120-114 Spurs win over the Phoenix Suns, he piled up 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals.
That season, he was named Defensive Player of the Year and set a single-season steals record that still stands. Ten steals in a game has happened only about two dozen times in NBA history.
Olajuwon’s entry came on March 29, 1990, when he powered Houston past Milwaukee 120-94 with 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 blocks. The assists were the eyebrow-raiser.
He was already the dominant shot-blocker of his era and retired as the all-time leader with 3,830 blocks, but playmaking was never what people associated with him. Robertson, by then with the Bucks, was on the wrong side of that one.
Robinson owns the most explosive line of the bunch. On February 17, 1994, he put up 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks in San Antonio’s 115-96 win over Detroit.
He’s also the only player on the list to win Rookie of the Year, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and a championship. Nobody has reached the quadruple-double since The Admiral.
Then there’s the almost one. For three days, the record books briefly showed five quadruple-doubles.
On March 3, 1990, Olajuwon finished a 129-109 win over Golden State with 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks and nine assists. Houston’s coach and PR staff reviewed the tape, decided one earlier pass should have counted, and issued a corrected box score with 10 assists.
The league looked at the same tape, disagreed, and changed it back to nine.
So who might be next? Josh Giddey has come closest in the modern game.
In a 146-115 Bulls win at the Lakers in March 2025, he had 15 points, 17 assists, 10 rebounds and eight steals. He passed Michael Jordan on the all-time triple-double list this past season, but the steals total makes this a tough mountain to climb.
Victor Wembanyama looks like the better bet, and he has already flirted with it. In Game 1 of the 2026 Western Conference semi-finals against Minnesota, he put up 11 points, 15 rebounds, 12 blocks and five assists.
Those 12 blocks set a postseason record, even though the Spurs lost 104-102. He was two assists shy as a rookie too, when he had 23 points, 15 rebounds, nine blocks and eight assists against Denver.
The 2026 Defensive Player of the Year blocks shots at a rate nobody else in the league can match. If a fifth quadruple-double ever shows up, it’s hard to see it belonging to anyone else.
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