List of NBA annual rebounding leaders

In basketball, a rebound is the act of gaining possession of the ball after a missed field goal or free throw. An offensive rebound occurs when a player recovers the ball after their own or a teammate's missed shot attempt, while a defensive rebound occurs when a player recovers the ball after an opponent's missed shot attempt.^[1] The National Basketball Association's (NBA) rebounding title is awarded to the player with the highest rebounds per game average in a given season. It was first recognized in the 1950–51 season, which was the second season after the league was created in 1949 by merger of the 3-year-old BAA and 12-year-old NBL. Players who earned rebounding titles before the 1973–74 season did not record any offensive or defensive rebounds because statistics on them were not recorded before that season.^[2] To qualify for the rebounding title, a player must appear in at least 58 games (out of 82). However, a player who appears in fewer than 58 games may qualify as annual rebounding leader if his rebound total would have given him the greatest average, had he appeared in 58 games. This has been the requirement since the 2013–14 season.^[3] The rebounding title was originally determined by rebound total through the 1968–69 season, after which rebounds per game was used to determine the leader instead.

Wilt Chamberlain won a record 11 rebounding titles in his career.

Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time records for total rebounds (2,149) and rebounds per game (27.2) in a season; both records were achieved in the 1960–61 season.^[4] He also holds the rookie records for total rebounds, with 1,941 in the 1959–60 season.^[5] Among active players, Andre Drummond has the highest season rebound total (1,247) and the highest season rebounding average (15.99), both achieved in the 2017–18 season. At 22 years, 130 days, Dwight Howard is the youngest rebounding leader in NBA history (achieved in the 2007–08 season),^[6] while Dennis Rodman is the oldest at 36 years, 341 days (achieved in the 1997–98 season).

Chamberlain has won the most rebounding titles in his career, with 11.^[4] Dennis Rodman has won a record seven consecutive rebounding titles.^[7] Moses Malone has won six rebounding titles. Howard has won five rebounding titles. Kevin Garnett and Bill Russell have won four rebounding titles each. Drummond has won four rebounding titles. Elvin Hayes, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Ben Wallace, DeAndre Jordan, and Domantas Sabonis are the only other players who have won the title multiple times. Six players have won the rebounding title and the NBA championship in the same season: Mikan in 1953 with the Minneapolis Lakers; Russell in 1959, 1964, and 1965 with the Boston Celtics; Chamberlain in 1967 and 1972 with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively; Bill Walton in 1977 with the Portland Trail Blazers; Malone in 1983 with the 76ers; and Rodman in 1996, 1997, and 1998 with the Chicago Bulls.^[8]

Key

^		Denotes player who is still active in the NBA
*		Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
§		1st time eligible for Hall of Fame in 2025[9]
‡		Denotes player who won the Most Valuable Player award that year
Player (X)		Denotes the number of times the player had been the rebounding leader up to and including that season
G	Guard		F	Forward	C	Center

Annual leaders

Bill Russell was the rebounding leader from 1958 to 1959 and from 1964 to 1965.

Elvin Hayes was the rebounding leader in 1970 and 1974.

Moses Malone was the rebounding leader in 1979 and from 1981 to 1985.

Dennis Rodman was the rebounding leader from 1991 to 1998.

Kevin Garnett was the rebounding leader from 2004 to 2007.

Dwight Howard was the rebounding leader from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2013.

Season	Player	Pos.[a]	Team	Games played	Offensive rebounds	Defensive rebounds	Total rebounds	Rebounds per game	Ref
1950–51	Dolph Schayes*	F/C	Syracuse Nationals	66	—	—	1,080	16.36	[10][11]
1951–52	Larry Foust	C	Fort Wayne Pistons	66	—	—	880	13.33	[10][12]
1951–52	Mel Hutchins	C	Milwaukee Hawks	66	—	—	880	13.33	[10][13]
1952–53	George Mikan*	C	Minneapolis Lakers	70	—	—	1,007	14.39	[10][14]
1953–54	Harry Gallatin*	F	New York Knicks	72	—	—	1,098	15.25	[10][15]
1954–55	Neil Johnston*	C	Philadelphia Warriors	72	—	—	1,085	15.07	[10][16]
1955–56 ‡	Bob Pettit*	C	St. Louis Hawks	72	—	—	1,164	16.17	[10][17]
1956–57	Maurice Stokes*	F	Rochester Royals	72	—	—	1,256	17.44	[10][18]
1957–58 ‡	Bill Russell*	C	Boston Celtics	69	—	—	1,564	22.67	[10][19]
1958–59	Bill Russell* (2)	C	Boston Celtics	70	—	—	1,612	23.03	[10][19]
1959–60 ‡	Wilt Chamberlain*[b]	C	Philadelphia Warriors	72	—	—	1,941	26.96	[10][20]
1960–61	Wilt Chamberlain* (2)[c]	C	Philadelphia Warriors	79	—	—	2,149	27.20	[10][20]
1961–62	Wilt Chamberlain* (3)	C	Philadelphia Warriors	80	—	—	2,052	25.65	[10][20]
1962–63	Wilt Chamberlain* (4)	C	San Francisco Warriors	80	—	—	1,946	24.32	[10][20]
1963–64	Bill Russell* (3)	C	Boston Celtics	78	—	—	1,930	24.74	[10][19]
1964–65 ‡	Bill Russell* (4)	C	Boston Celtics	78	—	—	1,878	24.08	[10][19]
1965–66 ‡	Wilt Chamberlain* (5)	C	Philadelphia 76ers	79	—	—	1,943	24.59	[10][20]
1966–67 ‡	Wilt Chamberlain* (6)	C	Philadelphia 76ers	81	—	—	1,957	24.16	[10][20]
1967–68 ‡	Wilt Chamberlain* (7)	C	Philadelphia 76ers	82	—	—	1,952	23.80	[10][20]
1968–69	Wilt Chamberlain* (8)	C	Los Angeles Lakers	81	—	—	1,712	21.14	[10][20]
1969–70	Elvin Hayes*	C	San Diego Rockets	82	—	—	1,386	16.90	[10][21][22]
1970–71	Wilt Chamberlain* (9)	C	Los Angeles Lakers	82	—	—	1,493	18.21	[10][20][23]
1971–72	Wilt Chamberlain* (10)	C	Los Angeles Lakers	82	—	—	1,572	19.17	[10][20][24]
1972–73	Wilt Chamberlain* (11)	C	Los Angeles Lakers	82	—	—	1,526	18.61	[10][20][25]
1973–74	Elvin Hayes* (2)	F	Capital Bullets	81	354	1,109	1,463	18.06	[10][22][26]
1974–75	Wes Unseld*[d]	C	Washington Bullets	73	318	759	1,077	14.75	[10][27][28]
1975–76 ‡	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*	C	Los Angeles Lakers	82	272	1,111	1,383	16.87	[10][29][30]
1976–77	Bill Walton*[e]	C	Portland Trail Blazers	65	211	723	934	14.37	[10][31][32]
1977–78	Truck Robinson	F	New Orleans Jazz	82	298	990	1,288	15.71	[10][33][34]
1978–79 ‡	Moses Malone*	C	Houston Rockets	82	587	857	1,444	17.61	[10][35][36]
1979–80	Swen Nater	C	San Diego Clippers	81	352	864	1,216	15.01	[10][37][38]
1980–81	Moses Malone* (2)	C	Houston Rockets	80	474	706	1,180	14.75	[10][36][39]
1981–82 ‡	Moses Malone* (3)	C	Houston Rockets	81	558	630	1,188	14.67	[10][36][40]
1982–83 ‡	Moses Malone* (4)	C	Philadelphia 76ers	78	445	749	1,194	15.31	[10][36][41]
1983–84	Moses Malone* (5)[f]	C	Philadelphia 76ers	71	352	598	950	13.38	[10][36][42]
1984–85	Moses Malone* (6)	C	Philadelphia 76ers	79	385	646	1,031	13.05	[10][36][43]
1985–86	Bill Laimbeer	C	Detroit Pistons	82	305	770	1,075	13.11	[10][44][45]
1986–87	Charles Barkley*[g]	F	Philadelphia 76ers	68	390	604	994	14.62	[10][46][47]
1987–88	Michael Cage[h]	F	Los Angeles Clippers	72	371	567	938	13.03	[10][48][49]
1988–89	Hakeem Olajuwon*[i]	C	Houston Rockets	82	338	767	1,105	13.48	[10][53][54]
1989–90	Hakeem Olajuwon* (2)	C	Houston Rockets	82	299	850	1,149	14.01	[10][54][55]
1990–91	David Robinson*	C	San Antonio Spurs	82	335	728	1,063	12.96	[10][56][57]
1991–92	Dennis Rodman*	F	Detroit Pistons	82	523	1,007	1,530	18.66	[10][58][59]
1992–93	Dennis Rodman* (2)	F	Detroit Pistons	62	367	765	1,132	18.26	[10][59][60]
1993–94	Dennis Rodman* (3)	F	San Antonio Spurs	79	453	914	1,367	17.30	[10][59][61]
1994–95	Dennis Rodman* (4)[j]	F	San Antonio Spurs	49	274	549	823	16.80	[10][59][62]
1995–96	Dennis Rodman* (5)[k]	F	Chicago Bulls	64	356	596	952	14.88	[10][59][63]
1996–97	Dennis Rodman* (6)[l]	F	Chicago Bulls	55	320	563	883	16.05	[10][59][64]
1997–98	Dennis Rodman* (7)	F	Chicago Bulls	80	421	780	1,201	15.01	[10][59][65]
1998–99[m]	Chris Webber*[n]	F	Sacramento Kings	42	149	396	545	12.98	[10][67][68]
1999–00	Dikembe Mutombo*	C	Atlanta Hawks	82	304	853	1,157	14.11	[10][69][70]
2000–01	Dikembe Mutombo* (2)[o]	C	Atlanta Hawks Philadelphia 76ers	75	307	708	1,015	13.53	[10][70][71]
2001–02	Ben Wallace*[p]	C	Detroit Pistons	80	318	721	1,039	12.99	[10][72][73]
2002–03	Ben Wallace* (2)	C	Detroit Pistons	73	293	833	1,126	15.42	[10][73][74]
2003–04 ‡	Kevin Garnett*	F	Minnesota Timberwolves	82	245	894	1,139	13.89	[10][75][76]
2004–05	Kevin Garnett* (2)	F	Minnesota Timberwolves	82	247	861	1,108	13.51	[10][76][77]
2005–06	Kevin Garnett* (3)[q]	F	Minnesota Timberwolves	76	214	752	966	12.71	[10][76][78]
2006–07	Kevin Garnett* (4)[r]	F	Minnesota Timberwolves	76	183	792	975	12.83	[10][76][79]
2007–08	Dwight Howard*	C	Orlando Magic	82	279	882	1,161	14.16	[10][80][81]
2008–09	Dwight Howard* (2)	C	Orlando Magic	79	336	757	1,093	13.84	[10][81]
2009–10	Dwight Howard* (3)	C	Orlando Magic	82	284	798	1,082	13.20	[10][81]
2010–11	Kevin Love^	F	Minnesota Timberwolves	73	330	782	1,112	15.23	[10][82]
2011–12[s]	Dwight Howard* (4)	C	Orlando Magic	54	200	585	785	14.54	[10][81]
2012–13	Dwight Howard* (5)[t]	C	Los Angeles Lakers	76	251	694	945	12.43	[10][81][84]
2013–14	DeAndre Jordan^	C	Los Angeles Clippers	82	331	783	1,114	13.59	[85]
2014–15	DeAndre Jordan^ (2)	C	Los Angeles Clippers	82	397	829	1,226	14.95	[86]
2015–16	Andre Drummond^	C	Detroit Pistons	81	395	803	1,198	14.79	[87]
2016–17	Hassan Whiteside	C	Miami Heat	77	293	795	1,088	14.13	[88]
2017–18	Andre Drummond^ (2)	C	Detroit Pistons	78	399	848	1,247	15.99	[87]
2018–19	Andre Drummond^ (3)	C	Detroit Pistons	79	423	809	1,232	15.59	[87]
2019–20	Andre Drummond^ (4)	C	Detroit Pistons Cleveland Cavaliers	57	250	614	864	15.16	[87]
2020–21	Clint Capela^	C	Atlanta Hawks	63	297	606	903	14.33	[89]
2021–22	Rudy Gobert^	C	Utah Jazz	66	241	727	968	14.67
2022–23	Domantas Sabonis^	C	Sacramento Kings	79	251	722	973	12.32	[90]
2023–24	Domantas Sabonis^ (2)	C	Sacramento Kings	82	294	826	1,120	13.66
2024–25	Domantas Sabonis^ (3)	C	Sacramento Kings	70	267	705	972	13.89

Multiple-time leaders

Rank	Player	Team	Times leader	Years
1	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia Warriors/San Francisco Warriors (4) / Philadelphia 76ers (3) / Los Angeles Lakers (4)	11	1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973
2	Dennis Rodman	Detroit Pistons (2) / San Antonio Spurs (2) / Chicago Bulls (3)	7	1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
3	Moses Malone	Houston Rockets (3) / Philadelphia 76ers (3)	6	1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
4	Dwight Howard	Orlando Magic (4) / Los Angeles Lakers (1)	5	2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
5	Andre Drummond	Detroit Pistons (3) / Cleveland Cavaliers (1)	4	2016, 2018, 2019, 2020
	Kevin Garnett	Minnesota Timberwolves		2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
	Bill Russell	Boston Celtics		1958, 1959, 1964, 1965
8	Domantas Sabonis	Sacramento Kings	3	2023, 2024, 2025
9	Elvin Hayes	San Diego Rockets (1) / Capital Bullets (1)	2	1970, 1974
	DeAndre Jordan	Los Angeles Clippers		2014, 2015
	Dikembe Mutombo	Atlanta Hawks (1) / Philadelphia 76ers (1)		2000, 2001
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Houston Rockets		1989, 1990
	Ben Wallace	Detroit Pistons		2002, 2003

See also

• NBA records
• List of NBA career rebounding leaders
• List of NBA annual scoring leaders
• List of NBA annual 3-point scoring leaders
• List of NBA annual assists leaders
• List of NBA annual steals leaders
• List of NBA annual blocks leaders

Notes

1. The player's primary position is listed first.
2. Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time rookie record for total rebounds.^[5]
3. Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time record for total rebounds and rebounds per game in a single season.^[4][5]
4. In the 1974–75 season, Bob McAdoo and Sam Lacey both had higher rebound totals (1,155 and 1,149 respectively) but they ranked fourth and third in rebounding average (14.1 and 14.2 respectively).^[27]
5. In the 1976–77 season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Artis Gilmore and Elvin Hayes all had higher rebound total (1,090, 1,072, 1,070 and 1,029 respectively) but they ranked second, third, fourth and sixth in rebounding average (13.3, 13.1, 13.0 and 12.5 respectively).^[31]
6. In the 1983–84 season, Bill Laimbeer and Buck Williams both had higher rebound totals (1,003 and 1,000 respectively) but they ranked fourth and second in rebounding average (12.2 and 12.3 respectively).^[42]
7. In the 1986–87 season, Charles Oakley and Buck Williams both had higher rebound totals (1,074 and 1,023 respectively) but they ranked second to third in rebounding average (13.1 and 12.5 respectively).^[46]
8. In the 1987–88 season, Charles Oakley had the highest rebound total (1,066) but was second in rebounding average (13.0).^[48]
9. When Olajuwon arrived in the United States, the University of Houston incorrectly spelled his first name "Akeem". He used that spelling until March 9, 1991, when he announced that he would add an H.^[50][51][52]
10. In the 1994–95 season, Dennis Rodman had only played in 49 games and ranked tenth in rebound total. Dikembe Mutombo had the highest total (1,029).^[62]
11. In the 1995–96 season, David Robinson had the highest rebound total (1,000) but was second in rebounding average (12.2).^[63]
12. In the 1996–97 season, Dikembe Mutombo and Ervin Johnson both had higher rebound totals (929 and 913 respectively) but they ranked second and fourth in rebounding average (11.6 and 11.1 respectively).^[64]
13. The 1998–99 season was shortened to 50 games due to the league's lockout.^[66] The qualification of this season's rebounding title is to appear in at least 43 games (out of 50) or to have at least 488 rebounds.^[3]
14. In the 1998–99 season, Dikembe Mutombo, Danny Fortson and Tim Duncan all had higher rebound totals (610, 581, and 571 respectively) but they ranked third to fifth in rebounding average (12.2, 11.6 and 11.4 respectively).^[67]
15. In the 2000–01 season, Ben Wallace had the highest rebound total (1,052) but was second in rebounding average (13.2).^[71]
16. In the 2001–02 season, Tim Duncan had the highest rebound total (1,042) but was second in rebounding average (12.7).^[72]
17. In the 2005–06 season, Dwight Howard had the highest rebound total (1,022) but was second in rebounding average (12.5).^[78]
18. In the 2006–07 season, Dwight Howard had the highest rebound total (1,008) but was third in rebounding average (12.3).^[79]
19. The 2011–12 season was shortened to 66 games due to the league's lockout.^[83] The qualification of this season's rebounding title is to appear in at least 56 games (out of 66) or to have at least 644 rebounds.^[3]
20. In the 2012–13 season, Ömer Aşık had the highest rebound total (956) but was third in rebounding average (11.7).^[84]