In 20 years at a sports bar trivia night, the host will ask, “There’s only been one time ever where two bench players on the same team recorded a triple-double in the same game. Who were those two players?”
And when the answer is revealed to be Bez Mbeng and John Konchar for the Utah Jazz against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 10, 2026, a collective groan will be heard throughout the tavern followed by a, “who’s Bed Mbeng?”
You read that right. On Friday night, in a game dubbed “the tanking super bowl,”
two Utah Jazz players from the bench recorded a triple-double, with Mbeng logging a 27/11/11 stat line, and Konchar getting 11/11/10. These performances have capped off a year of insane triple-double stats for the most barren triple-double team in the entire National Basketball Association.
Before this season, the Jazz had only seen one triple-double since 2008. It was Jordan Clarkson on New Year’s Day 2024. The 10th and final rebound in the final minutes of a blowout win sent Jazz fans, who were thirsty for any sign of a 10/10/10 stat line, to their feet as they finally arrived at an oasis in the triple-double desert dunes in Salt Lake City.
But after Friday’s historic night, the Jazz have now recorded six triple doubles on the season; the most in franchise history.
It started with Jusuf Nurkic , when in January he recorded three straight triple-doubles, averaging 16.7 points, 13.0 rebounds and 12.0 assists during that stretch. He was the first Jazz player ever to log a triple-double in three straight games.
In his final triple-double performance, Nurkic accumulated a minus-30 in the box score. At the time, it was the lowest plus-minus of any player to get a triple-double in NBA history (that record was also broken in Friday night’s game by Jahmai Mashack’s minus-46. It was also the first NBA game with three triple-doubles. Crazy.)
John Konchar picked up a quiet one in Tuesday’s loss to the Pelicans, bringing the season total to five. And then all Hell broke loose on Friday.
When people think of the 2025-26 Utah Jazz season, there are a few things to come to mind. The first year of brand new, beautiful jerseys, the year where Keyonte George became something real, the year where they traded for Jaren Jackson Jr., or maybe even the year where the Jazz’s tanking antics were the talk of the league.
But somewhere down the line, I hope that 2025-26 can be thought of as the craziest triple-double season of all time.
