Do it like Sabonis: Who will post the next EuroBasket Qualifiers triple-double?

MUNICH (Germany) - Thomas Walkup was just inches away from getting a triple-double for Greece in their FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers opener. In the end, he finished just two rebounds and two assists shy of the mark.

It got us digging into the FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers history books, searching for the best all-round performances since 1993 - that's how deep the archive goes when it comes to counting assists as part of the traditional boxscore.

Walkup finished the game against Czechia with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 32 minutes of work. His opponent, Tomas Satoransky, also did a bit of everything in the same game, getting 9 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists for Czechia, but the last Qualifiers triple-double was not exactly a high profile name as Walkup or Satoransky.

It belongs to Jonathan Kazadi. Back in February 2020, Switzerland forced overtime in Tbilisi, and Georgia prevailed after 45 minutes, despite Kazadi giving it his all. He finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, marking the first Qualifiers triple-double in six years.

Jonathan Kazadi put together a 22-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in 2020.

The last man to get one before Kazadi was Gal Mekel. The Israeli point guard led the way in a road win over Montenegro, picking up 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in August 2014, as part of the FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualifiers.

Scrolling down through history, Mekel was not the only Israeli player with a Qualifiers triple-double. Back in 2012, Lior Eliyahu enjoyed the cheers of 7,000 fans in Tel Aviv, with 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to his name. A certain youngster named Gal Mekel was on the bench for Israel in that matchup versus Slovakia.

Lior Eliyahu and Gal Mekel  have both recorded triple-doubles in EuroBasket Qualifiers history

The only other player next to Kazadi, Mekel and Eliyahu to record a FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers was none other than Arvydas Sabonis. His numbers from 1993, as part of the FIBA EuroBasket 1995 Qualifiers, look like a video game compared to all the others.

The Lithuanian giant - both figuratively and literally - finished the game against Latvia with 21 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists, leading a 108-65 blowout in Kaunas on November 17, 1993.

Sabonis registered 21 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists for Lithuania in 1993.

A couple of years later Lithuania reached the FIBA EuroBasket Final in Greece, just a few kilometers away from where Walkup was flirting with a triple-double on Friday.

Sabonis, Eliyahu, Mekel and Kazadi all left their mark. Who's the next player to pick up a triple-double?

Could we see it in this window already?

FIBA