HBD All-Star Andrei Kirilenko aka AK-47 the 5x5 Threat!
19 PTS, 8 STL, 7 AST, 5 BLK, 5 REB
14 PTS, 9 AST, 8 REB, 7 BLK, 6 STL
10 PTS, 12 REB, 6 STL, 6 AST, 5 BLK
20 PTS, 11 REB, 11 AST, 6 STL
11 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST, 7 BLK
15 PTS, 14 REB, 10 BLK, 3 STL pic.twitter.com/EZSeg4MNiQ— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 18, 2021
Unless you played fantasy basketball a decade ago, you would probably laugh at the thought of someone drafting Andrei Kirilenko before LeBron James, Shaq, Kobe, T-Mac, and pretty much everyone else in the NBA. But there was a time when the man nicknamed AK-47, who looked like Ivan Drago, was a top-five, sometimes three, fantasy roto player.
Seriously!
He was the first player in NBA history to finish in the top four in blocks and steals per game and the only true threat in the league to have a 5x5 game.
It took six years for another player (Nic Batum) to record a 5x5 game since Kirilenko's last in 2006. Six years! And AK did it twice within three years, giving him three of the five instances of this rare feat between 1996 and 2013.
Here's the fantasy winning stat lines from AK's three 5x5 games
- 2003: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks, 8 steals
- 2003: 10 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks, 6 steals
- 2006: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 blocks, 6 steals
Here are a few other great stat lines that justified his draft position.
- 2005: 15 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 10 blocks, 3 steals
- 2005: 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 blocks, 3 steals
- 2004: 11 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 blocks
- 2005: 21 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 8 blocks, 2 steals
- 2004: 27 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks, 3 steals
- 2007: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals, 4 blocks
And his wife allows him to be with another women for 1 day out of each year.
THE OG 5X5 GUYS
WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Blocks and steals weren't being kept before 1972, so I wouldn't be surprised if Wilt somehow had 50 of them while breaking records on and off the court. The Big Dipper reportedly once pulled off a quintuple-double in 1968: 53 points, 32 rebounds, 24 blocks, 14 assists, and 11 steals. If this is even close to being true, he probably pulled off multiple 5x5 lines during the first half of games.
BILL RUSSELL
I'm sure Wilt's nemesis also had a few unofficial ones. He once had an unofficial quadruple-double in 1961 (against Wilt) with 15 points, 25 rebounds, 15 steals, and 13 blocks. Considering he's had 17 triple-doubles with assists, I wouldn't be surprised if a guy who could get 15 steals or blocks in a game could pull off a 5x5.
JULIUS ERVING
Since 1970, Dr. J has been the only player besides Dream, AK, and Wemby to have multiple 5x5 games, but two of his came during the ABA. I often call Erving one of the most underrated basketball greats ever.
Most of that has to do with things you can't see in a boxscore, but what you could see was damn impressive:
- 32 PTS, 8 AST, 7 REB, 7 BLK, 5 STL
- 31 PTS, 19 REB, 5 BLK, 5 AST, 5 STL
- 28 PTS, 10 AST, 7 REB, 5 BLK, 5 STL
And the King of the 5x5 is Hakeem the Dream. Check out this chart from NBAHoopsonline.com showing 5x5 games since 1973.
