Wilt Chamberlain’s family commends Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets for smashing the records of the NBA legend, saying, “Wilt wouldn’t mind.”

Wilt Chamberlain’s family commends Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets for smashing the records of the NBA legend, saying, “Wilt wouldn’t mind.”

On May 22, Barbara Lewis, the late Wilt Chamberlain’s sister, watched the Nuggets play the Lakers in an attempt to win the Western Conference finals at her house in Las Vegas. Then, before the game ended, she left to run an errand.

Lewis came back, and a little later, the phone rang. Her son LaMont Lewis called from Colorado Springs to let her know that Denver defeated the Lakers 4-0 by a score of 113-111, shattering Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record for the most triple-doubles by a center in a single series.

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“In a phone interview, my son said, ‘Mom, you missed it,'” she recalled. “I apologize profusely for missing it. I was hoped it will be shown once again.

That night, Jokic recorded his eighth triple-double of the postseason, surpassing the seven that the great Chamberlain, who played in the NBA from 1959 to 1973 before passing away in 1999 at the age of sixty-three, had established with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966–67.

Jokic increased the lead to nine in Thursday’s NBA Finals Game 1 at Ball Arena against Miami. Denver defeated Miami 104-93 thanks to a 27-point, 14-assist, and 10-rebound performance. Jokic had the opportunity to become just the second player to join 1967’s Chamberlain in Sunday’s 111-108 Game 2 loss to the Heat.

Jokic has often eclipsed Chamberlain in the record book. Jokic now has 15 career center playoff triple-doubles after breaking Chamberlain’s mark of nine earlier in this series.

Jokic has broken Chamberlain’s career triple-double record for a center of 78 with 105 in his eight seasons of regular-season action. Additionally, he eclipsed Chamberlain’s 1967–68 center record of 8.6 assists per game for the 76ers in 2022–2023 by averaging 9.8 per game.

With eighty-five-year-old Barbara Lewis, all is well.

She remarked, “Records were meant to be broken.” “My brother used to say that all the time. Denver is playing so well, and in my opinion, he is an excellent player. Wilt wouldn’mind if those records were broken, you know.

Of Chamberlain’s seven sisters and three brothers, only two remain. Two years after Chamberlain, in 1938, Barbara Lewis was born, and her sister Selina Gross is currently 87 years old.

The 57-year-old son of Barbara Lewis has spent almost 28 years living in Colorado Springs. Chamberlain spent the last thirty-plus years of his life in the Los Angeles region, where he had lived as a child. He claimed that the Big Dipper and his childless uncle were quite near to him.