Ayton second fastest in Suns history to 3,000 points and 2,000 rebounds

Young center Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Draft, tonight became the second fastest Phoenix Suns player ever to record 3,000 career points and 2,000 career rebounds in the NBA.

Ayton reached that milestone in just 188 career games. In 54 years of franchise history, including any and all players who even suited up one game for the Suns, only Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley reached it faster.

Ayton scored his 3,000th point in tonight’s game versus the Denver Nuggets after grabbing his 2,000th rebound on Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

Using basketball-reference.com’s Stathead service, here is the list. First, those who reached 3,000 points while already having 2,000 rebounds (like DA tonight):

Those asterisks indicate whether the player is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Flipping the criteria, here’s the list of players who tallied their 2,000th rebound in the shortest number of games while already having 3,000 points.

Again, asterisks for Hall of Fame.

Among active players, Ayton only falls behind Joel Embiid (174 games), Karl-Anthony Towns (177 games) and Blake Griffin (183 games).

Just off the list, coming in a little behind Ayton: Kevin Love (201 games), DeMarcus Cousins (206), Dwight Howard (207) and Anthony Davis (210). Nikola Jokic needed 222 games.

Suns related: Shawn Marion did it in 213 games, while Alvan Adams needed 230 games.

DA is not just throwing up stats in obscurity, or on a team bereft of other stat-stuffers. He is in a lineup with two other All-Stars, and helped the Suns make the NBA Finals in only his third season, at 22 years old, after they were bad enough to draft him No. 1 overall.

After beating the Nuggets on Sunday night, the Suns have won 12 games in a row — the fourth longest winning streak in the franchise’s 54 year history — and have more wins than any other NBA team in the last 17 months with a 86-32 record, regular season and playoffs.

I’m not sure we actually recognize just how special this group is, including Deandre Ayton.