Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves is having a fantastic breakout season, averaging 20.1 points and 15.5 boards as of December 9th and delivered the NBA its first 30/30 game since Moses Malone in 1982. He was also the first player to record more than thirty rebounds in a game since Charles Barkley, Kevin Willis, Dennis Rodman, Charles Oakley, and Rony Seikaly roamed the paint.

RONY SEIKALY!!!

After Love posted another monster game last night with 22 points and 21 rebounds I started wondering how many other players in NBA history averaged more than twenty points and fifteen rebounds in a season.

If Love can sustain this statistical excellence, and he has shown no intention of letting up, he will enter into some pretty impressive company.

Want proof? Love hasn’t registered less than fifteen boards since November 19th and has scored more than twenty points in six of those seven contests.

He’s also shooting much higher from the free-throw line than any of the players below, although that doesn’t make up for his lack of blocks, steals, and assists. The greats collected those too, Mr. Love!

I present to you the complete list of those who recorded 20/15 seasons below that I compiled from the awesome reference site basketball-reference.com:

(NOTE: I do not include ABA statistics here so Artis Gilmore, Julius Erving, and a couple others don’t qualify)

*Kevin Love’s averages through 22 games this season as of 12/9/10

NAME

YEAR   

PPG   

RPG   

KEVIN LOVE*

10-11

20.1

15.5

WILT CHAMBERLAIN     

59-60

37.6

27.0

60-61

38.4

27.2

61-62

50.4

25.7

62-63

44.8

24.3

63-64

36.9

22.3

64-65

34.7

22.9

65-66

33.5

24.6

66-67

24.1

24.2

67-68

24.3

23.8

68-69

20.5

21.1

70-71

20.7

18.2

Bob Pettit

55-56

25.7

16.2

57-58

24.6

17.4

58-89

29.2

16.4

59-60

26.1

17.0

60-61

27.9

20.3

61-62

31.1

18.7

62-63

28.4

15.1

63-64

27.4

15.3

Nate Thurmond

67-68

20.5

22.0

68-69

21.5

19.7

69-70

21.9

17.7

71-72

21.4

16.1

Elvin Hayes

68-69

28.4

17.1

69-70

27.5

16.9

70-71

28.7

16.6

73-74

21.4

18.1

Elgin Baylor

58-59

24.9

15.0

59-60

29.6

16.4

60-61

34.8

19.8

61-62

38.3

18.6

Walt Bellamy

61-62

31.6

19.0

62-63

27.9

16.4

63-64

27.0

17.0

65-66

22.8

15.7

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

70-71

31.7

16.0

71-72

34.8

16.6

72-73

30.2

16.1

75-76

27.7

16.9

Jerry Lucas

64-65

21.4

20.0

65-66

21.5

21.1

67-68

21.5

19.0

Moses Malone

78-79

24.8

17.6

82-83

24.5

15.3

Bob McAdoo

73-74

30.6

15.1

Truck Robinson

77-78

22.7

15.7

Dave Cowens

72-73

20.5

16.2

Neil Johnston

54-55

22.7

15.1

(NOTE: I compiled these myself so if there is a mistake above please let me know!)

Notice something about that list? How about nearly all of them being in the HOF and a few that are known as titans of the game.

Only thirteen players in NBA history have averaged over twenty points and fifteen boards per game for an entire season, which would put Mr. Love in some elite company. We’re talking a few multiple-MVP winning, all-time greats here.

Not only that, it hasn’t been accomplished since Moses Malone in 1982-83.

Pretty intense stuff.

I know the Timberwolves are not setting the world on fire so far this season but at least they have Love to root for.