Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) drives the ball towards the basket against Philadelphia 76ers forward Dominick Barlow (25) during the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

Jalen Johnson joins pair of legends by making history in Hawks' win

By Mike J. Asti | Last updated Dec 14, 2025 11:01 PM ET

One way to become more of a household name is to make history and join legendary names. That's exactly what Jalen Johnson did during the Atlanta Hawks' 1201-117 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.

Continuing his recent streak, Johnson recorded his fourth-straight triple-double. The 23-year-old forward became only the third player in NBA history to ever post four consecutive triple-doubles before turning 24.

And the other two to accomplish the impressive streak are two all-time greats, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson, who did it an incredible five times.

Jalen Johnson continued his streak despite poor shooting game

Against Philadelphia, the Hawks' budding star managed to continue his streak despite one of his worst offensive performances of the season. He scored just 12 points off a very poor night — he connected on 5-of-17 shots for a 29.4 percent from the field.

JALEN JOHNSON'S FOURTH-STRAIGHT TRIPLE-DOUBLE

He's now the third player in NBA history to record 4 consecutive triple-doubles before turning 24, joining:

Magic Johnson (1x)
Oscar Robertson (5x) pic.twitter.com/KkneLHn0Oo
— NBA (@NBA) December 15, 2025

But Johnson still found a way to contribute while struggling to score, adding 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Johnson also showed his scoring prowess earlier in the streak.

Johnson has shown he can put up big offensive numbers

He scored 19 at Detroit, 30 at Washington, 21 against Denver and even 29 at the open of the month in a game that was three assists from being Johnson's first of five-straight triple-doubles.

Even beyond making history, Johnson is having the best season of his young career to date. He entered Sunday averaging 23.2 points, 10.5 boards and 8.0 assists in 23 games. This comes after he averaged 18.9 points in 36 games last season and 16.0 in 56 games during the 2023-24 campaign.

Now in the middle of his fifth NBA season, the Hawks' first-round pick from the 2021 draft out of Duke is putting together a season worthy of being the new face of the franchise if Atlanta ever decides to move on from Trae Young.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they will need Johnson to continue his streak to stay in the early-season playoff hunt. Atlanta is now 15-12, which is only good enough to be the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Mike J. Asti

Mike Asti is an experienced media personality and journalist with a vast resume and skillset, most notably from time with TribLIVE Radio and WPXI-TV. Asti now serves as the Managing Editor of WV Sports Now, where he leads the coverage of WVU sports. He has also covered the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and other teams within the Pittsburgh market

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