On the news feed that often pops up on my phone I saw a photo of NBA basketball player Enes Kanter holding up a piece of paper with the number “30” written on it.

“What’s this all about?” was the question that went through my head. The photo of Kanter reminded me of a similar photo of Wilt Chamberlain holding up a sign that said “100” after he scored that many points in one game.

In reading the caption under the photo, I learned that Kanter had set a Portland Trail Blazers team record by getting 30 rebounds in a game against the Detroit Pistons over the weekend.

Thirty is a lot of rebounds and I was happy for Kanter and his accomplishment. I presume Oklahoma City Thunder fans remember him as a onetime player for Oklahoma’s favorite NBA team. He played for the Thunder from 2015 to 2017 and during that time I assumed quite a liking for his style of play. He is one of many former Thunder players who have gone on to other locations -- Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, just to name a few.

Kanter is an interesting guy. He is from Turkey and after coming to the United States to play basketball, he got on the wrong side of Turkey’s dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Seems like he called Erdogan the “Hitler of our century” on Twitter. Kanter’s family disowned him for his comments and his support of a political coup in Turkey. On a 2017 basketball tour which hosted camps in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, he had to flee Indonesia, where he learned he was going to be arrested. Later in Romania, he learned that his passport had been cancelled by the Turkish embassy and had to flee to London and then to the United States. In 2019, he was a member of the New York Knicks, who were scheduled to play a game in London. He declined to travel with the team fearing that he might be arrested in Europe. Later as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, he declined to travel with the team to a game in Toronto, fearing that it might not be safe for him to leave the U. S.

Oregon U. S. Senator Ron Wyden had taken up Kanter’s cause, and Kanter has said he probably would be willing to take a pay cut to stay in Portland. Anyway, you get the idea. If he continues to get 30 rebounds in a game, he most likely won’t be asked to take a pay cut any time soon.

As my normal thought process works, I wondered to myself what the NBA record for most rebounds in one game might be. Looking it up, I was reminded that Wilt Chamberlain holds that mark, pulling down 55 in 1960 during a game with the Boston Celtics. Like Chamberlain’s record of 100 points in a single game, the 55 rebound record is unlikely to be broken--ever. Now if Bill Russell were still playing, that might not be a sure bet. Chamberlain is No. 1 with 55, Russell had 51, and 49 twice as No. 2, 3 and 4; Chamberlain had 45 twice, 43 three times; Russell had 43 once, and 42 four times and then the name Nate Thurmond breaks the string with 42. Chamberlain and Russell continue to dominate the list, with the name of Jerry Lucas, with 40 popping in, and Neil Johnson with 39 sticking his name in there. Of the top 56 rebounding games, Chamberlain had 29, Russell had 23. Kanter’s remarkable performance didn’t crack the top 100 games in NBA history.

What I learned confirmed my memory that Chamberlain and Russell were two amazing players back in their day. They are number 1 and 2 in career rebounding statistics as well. Chamberlain was No. 1 with 23,924 rebounds in his career. No. 2, was Russell, with 21,620. The rest of the Top 20 include Moses Malone, 17,834; Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, 17,440; Artis Gilmore, 16,330; Elvin Hayes, 16,279; Tim Duncan, 15,091; Karl Malone, 14,968; Robert Parish, 14,715; Kevin Garnett, 14,662; Nate Thurmond, 14,464; Walt Bellamy, 14,241; Dwight Howard, 14,130; Wes Unseld, 13,769; Hakeem Olajuwon, 13,748; Shaquille O’Neal, 13,099; Buck Williams, 13,017; Jerry Lucas, 12,942; Bob Pettit, 12,849; and Charles Barkley, 12,546.

In looking up things for this report, I ran across a writer who says that Russell was a much better rebounder than Chamberlain. He doesn’t give much justification for his opinion, which he is quick to point out is just that--an opinion. But Russell was often favored over Chamberlain as a player by those who form such opinions, and the reason is usually that Russell’s team won more NBA championships than Wilt’s did. Russell played in the NBA 13 seasons all for the Boston Celtics. The Celtics won 11 NBA titles during Russell’s career. Chamberlain’s teams just won two titles. That’s a legitimate consideration. However, this opinion writer picked Chamberlain as the No. 3 rebounder in NBA history, behind Russell and Nate Thurmond. His rationale for Thurmond being rated over Chamberlain was that Thurmond often gave Wilt some difficulty when they played head to head.

I viewed a couple of other opinions about who the top rebounders have been and both included Dennis Rodman as a really great performer in this category. Rodman’s flamboyant style got him a lot of negative press, but he was one of the top offensive rebounders of all time and highly respected among his peers. A surprise name I ran into was that of Bill Bridges. I became a fan of Bridges when he played for the Kansas Jayhawks and when he was a member of the Kansas City team in the old ABL. Bridges was only 6-foot-6 but he was a horse in both college and the pros. I was tickled to run across his name.

Rebounding is a part of basketball that doesn’t always get the coverage that scoring points does. Lately with all the emphasis on triple and quadruple doubles, rebounding, assists and blocked shots are starting to get their proper appreciation. But thanks to former OKC player Enes Kanter, I learned more than I had known about the art of pulling down rebounds.