James Harden’s record-breaking triple-double gets hilariously beaten by the Clippers’ Tyronn Lue

Tyronn Lue‘s Los Angeles Clippers beat the Washington Wizards on Thursday evening, s James Harden recording a triple-double in the win.

It was Harden’s 79th triple-double in an NBA career that now spans 16 years and 1,113 regular-season games.

James Harden triple-double gets a hilarious shot from Tyronn Lue

The Clippers bounced back from a two-game losing streak, beating the Wizards 110-93 on Thursday night.

Norman Powell led the way with 22 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals as seven Clippers scored in double figures in the wire-to-wire victory. It was the 27th time in 36 appearances this season that Powell recorded at least 20 points in a game.

Derrick Jones Jr. had 19 points and eight rebounds, following his 29-point performance against the Boston Celtics the night before. It was the first time in his NBA career that he recorded back-to-back games of at least 19 points.

After a two-game absence due to corneal abrasion, Ivica Zubac returned and finished with 111 points and nine rebounds in just over 29 minutes of play. Zubac finished just one rebound shy of his 27th double-double of the season, which would have tied the career high in 2022-23. The Clippers have 37 games left.

The night, however, belonged to James Harden, who finished the game with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists on just nine field goals in 33 minutes of action. Harden recorded his 79th career NBA triple-double, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain for eighth in NBA history and trailing only Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic.

It’s an impressive feat for a superstar who began his career as the sixth man for the Oklahoma City Thunder with scoring as his strongest attribute.

“To take a guy who is a dominant scorer who can score 50, 60 points and then now you turn him into a guy who can give you 13, 14 assists,” Tyronn Lue said of Harden after the victory. “Rebounding the basketball, I don’t know how he does it jumping this high on the floor.” But somehow it works. Somehow it works. He’s just, every time getting better and better at certain things. And it doesn’t surprise me that he climbed the charts even to a triple-double. Few rebounds, but assists and points.”

Upon hearing Lue’s comments, Harden laughed out loud in the background.

“It’s not about how high you jump,” the Clippers star replied. “You have to follow the ball.” I’ve been doing it for a long time. I haven’t been the highest jumping guy my whole life, so I figured out ways to impact the game and I figured it out. I don’t know.”

Harden showed his results when he arrived with the Houston Rockets, scoring a career-high 29 points per game, along with 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game. However, a big jump was made the following season, when Harden slightly increased his scoring average (to 29.1 points per game) but increased his assists by nearly four per game and rebounds by two per game.

The superstar guard, who recorded nine triple-doubles in his first four seasons with the Rockets, finished the 2016-17 season with 22. After recording his second of the season Thursday night, Harden expressed how important the feat was because it shows his the ability to influence games beyond the goals.

“It means a lot, just impacting games in other ways,” Harden said of finishing eighth all-time in triple-doubles. “Scoring is one thing, but rebounding, helping is another thing, and it just affects the game.” You don’t have to be the best player on the court by just dribbling the basketball every night. Obviously that helps, but there are other ways to influence games. You’ve seen it throughout NBA history. I’m just happy to be part of one of those on the list.”

Harden has not been named a starter for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, California, but he is expected to be named for the game when the coaches select the reserves next week.

“It (would) mean a lot, man. Just the work I put in individually and as a team. Achievements and my numbers are good enough. I was on the other side where I led the league in assists and I didn’t make it. So I would be honored. I would love to be part of the team.”

Tyronn Lue believes three of his players, James Harden, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac, have All-Star cases.

“James, Norm and Zu, all three have a case,” Tyronn Lue said of his Clippers. “To be able to put this team on my back, missing Kawha.” Kawhi is playing seven of 43 games and those guys are carrying the load. All those guys deserve to be All-Stars. And it’s so hard when you’re in the West and all the players they have in the West, but they’re definitely putting their names in that pool to be an All-Star. All three have done a great job to get us to this point.”

On the season, James Harden is averaging 21.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Entering Friday, the LA Clippers sit in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 5-11 seed separated by just three games.