BEST NBA REBOUNDERS OF ALL TIME
We look to answer the common question: Who is the greatest rebounder of all time?
Counting down the top 10, players are examined from all eras. Total amassed rebound volume (offensive + defensive), rebounding rate per minute, and difficulty of contested rebounding are all woven in to the ranking system.
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#10 ~ Shaquille O'Neal
Shaq utilized the same physicality he employed as a dominant scorer to be a prolific glass cleaner. His space-eating 300-pound-plus frame was nearly immovable around the basket. O'Neal also sports a 7'7" reach which further contributes to his rebounding frequency. Once Shaq got positioning near the basket, nearly ever short-range ricochet was his to miss.
The fact that Shaq somehow never managed to lead the league in rebounds per game should take nothing away from his dominance on the boards. He was a monster here particularly during his younger and more spry days. His offensive rebounding in particular was at historic levels during the first third of his career. His career high for a single game was 28 total boards (full highlights of that contest below).
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#9 ~ Kevin Garnett
The tall, lanky Kevin Garnett was a highly productive rebounder at both ends. Across his 21-year career, Kevin played with extreme toughness and intensity game in and game out. That tenacity helped him be a monster on the boards, productive into his latter years in the Association. At his peak, he was an uber-athletic big who could jump out of the gym for those boards.
Garnett paced the NBA in rebounds per game in four separate campaigns. One of these was his MVP year of 2003-2004. He put up a stat-line of 24.2/13.9/5.0 on right around 50% shooting from the field. Kevin makes a prominent appearance on the all-time leaderboards as well. His 14,662 boards are the ninth-most in NBA history.
#8 ~ Moses Malone
Moses Malone stood out in multiple ways as a basketball player. His rebounding was at the forefront. Moses was a consistent, hard-nosed player who scrapped on the boards constantly. Those lofty mid-career scoring numbers included many second chance points. Malone notched six 6+ offensive rebounds per-36 minutes seasons in the NBA.
The 6'10" big man cracked the top 5 all-time for total boards. His bloated total here is helped by his pure longevity at the NBA level. Moses logged 19 years in the National Basketball Association, all taking place after a couple campaigns in the ABA. He snared an impressive 16,212 NBA boards in the process.
#7 ~ Elvin Hayes
Elvin impresses as a board-collector on both a per-minute level and a broader career level. His was a tall, long player with notable bounce relative to his league peers at the time. Hayes used his physical tools to put up insane stat total such as an 18.1 rebounds/game season in 1973-1974.
Hayes' elevated position within the all-time record books cannot be ignored. The fourth-best 16,279 rebounds he got to was within just 16 seasons. While not a short career by any means, it is noticeably less long than most other members of this top-10 group.
#6 ~ Tim Duncan
"The Big Fundamental" continued to put on a clinic with his rebounding technique. He could almost never be caught losing sight of his man as the shot went up. Duncan did his job to close out possessions as a defensive-anchoring big man. Being 6'11" with a 7'5" wingspan at the power forward spot doesn't hurt either.
Getting into the numbers, Tim still stacks up as a historically effective glass cleaner. His single-game best was 27 boards in his age-33 season. Additionally, his extended greatness and consistency as a rebounder lands him sixth all-time in rebounds. His capacity to box out and just get the job done here for such a long time, well into his 30's, is what brings Tim ahead of others here.
#5 ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar succeeded as a rebounder the same way he did as a scorer - with size, length, fundamentals and extreme durability. He was a much better defensive rebounder than he was an offensive one, which holds him back from being a bit higher here. Still, out of his 20 NBA seasons exactly half were 12+ RPG campaigns.
Kareem is third all-time with 17,440 boards brought down. His high water mark as an individual came in 1975-1975 as a Laker. His 16.9 rebounds a night was both a career best and a league best for that season. He allegedly has a 7'5" wingspan and stood at a towering 7'2" during his playing days. This extreme limb length only served to boost his rebounding abilities.
#4 ~ Nate Thurmond
The 6'11" Warrior legend made his mark as a great interior defender. Besides stellar post defense and shot-blocking, Nate vacuumed in rebounds with the best of them. He used his very long arms to be a major factor on the boards. The Hall of Famer even had two seasons averaging north of 21 rebounds per game.
Thurmond's presence amongst the volume rebounding greats becomes exponentially more admirable given his 14-year career. He played under 1,000 career games yet ended up with a whopping 14,464 rebounds. This was in large part because he nabbed 1,100+ total rebounds in 8 of his 14 campaigns. Overall, he put up an unreal 14.5 boards per-36 for his career.
#3 ~ Dennis Rodman
Dennis made loads of money in the NBA because of his defense and other truly elite skill - rebounding the basketball. His willingness and ability to excel doing the dirty work on his squads led to a long and prosperous NBA tenure.
The undersized Rodman at 6'7" overcame this and then some with a motor that may be the highest-revving in NBA history. He put his body on the line constantly. He'd routinely dive to be parallel to the hardwood as he pursued the carom.
Dennis put up some of the best rebounding seasons the league has ever seen. His ability to rebound amongst the trees yet also hustle to track down longer balls made him a complete board collector. Rodman was absolutely elite on both ends when it came to ripping down the rebound.
Rodman was able to kill it on the boards from his days as a youngster all the way up until retirement. In terms of these rankings, this helped compensate for what was not the longest career. Rather, by isolating his seasons it is clear he was special in this capacity. He paced the league seven times in boards/game, headlined by 5 seasons of 16+ a night.
#2 ~ Bill Russell
Labelling Bill as a dominant rim-protector would still be a grave understatement. His profound defensive impact played an integral role on his record-best 11 championship-winning squads. Part of his role on this end was to close our possessions with the defensive rebound. At a lengthy 6'10" with masterful technique, this was not an issue for Russell.
He got tons of contested rebounds in traffic as these were by-far the most common sort of his era. No three-point line meant far less long rebounds. Collecting primarily close-range boards, Bill was a four-time rebounds champ. His career average is 22.45 boards/contest. Bringing his statistics back down to the comparative per-36 measure takes nothing away from his greatness - career 19.1 total rebounds averaged.
Congruent with his position on this list, Bill is fittingly in the number 2 spot on the all-time boards list. His 21,620 rebounds is 4,180 ahead of third-place Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The most impressive piece of data within his career may be the fact that he logged merely 13 seasons. However, he dominated to such a degree within these that he propelled himself into the league's all-time upper echelon.
#1 ~ Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt, by all relevant rebounding metrics, is the greatest rebounder ever. His 22.89 career rebounds per game average is tops in NBA (and ABA) history. In terms of volume, he remains on the throne with 23,924 boards in his 14 seasons. Chamberlain won the rebounding crown 11 different times.
Chamberlain dominated by typically being the biggest, toughest player on the floor. The rebounding numbers he put up are jaw-dropping even when adjusted for minutes played. Per-36 he grabbed 18 a night for his career. Rebounds were not differentiated on an offensive/defensive basis back then but the film shows he was a force cleaning up teammates' (and his own) misses.
