Karl-Anthony Towns leads the NBA at 13.5 rebounds a game with 10 in every game, and no Knick has won a rebounding title since 1953-54

Karl-Anthony Towns has 149 rebounds in 11 games for the Knicks, 13.5 a game. That leads the NBA. Domantas Sabonis of the Kings is next at 13.3 in 10 games, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Heat at 12.6 and Rudy Gobert of the Timberwolves at 12.1.

Towns has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in all 11 of his games. He is the only player this season with double-digit rebounds in every game he has played, among those with at least six games.

Basketball-Reference lists only one Knick who has led the NBA in rebounds per game: Harry Gallatin, at 15.3 in 1953-54. No New York player has finished first since.

TOWNS DOES IT ALL pic.twitter.com/rnfft0PkX3

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) October 31, 2026

The numbers that stand out

• Towns has 115 defensive rebounds, 10.5 a game. That also leads the league, ahead of Sabonis at 9.4 and Antetokounmpo at 9.1
• He is playing 31.4 minutes a game, which works out to 15.5 rebounds per 36 minutes. That is the highest rate of any player with at least 150 minutes
• His season high is 20 rebounds, with eight on the offensive glass, in a 111-97 win over Detroit on Oct. 27. Gobert and Victor Wembanyama are the only other players with a 20-rebound game this season
• He has 16 rebounds twice, against Brooklyn on Nov. 2 and Milwaukee on Nov. 10, and has 15 or more in three games
• Towns has 28.2% of the Knicks’ 529 rebounds. New York is second in the league at 48.1 rebounds a game, behind Minnesota at 48.8
• The Knicks are rebounding 77.4% of opponents’ misses, second only to Charlotte

A career high so far

Towns’ best full season on the boards was 12.8 a game in 2024-25, his first year in New York. He averaged 12.4 with Minnesota in 2018-19 and 11.9 last season. His 10.5 defensive rebounds a game would also be a career high; his previous best was 9.8 in 2024-25.

He is still scoring like a stretch big. Towns is averaging 20.9 points and has made 21 of 53 threes, 39.6%, or 1.9 a game.

A shooter on top of the rebounding list

That shooting is unusual for a rebounding leader. Over the last 36 seasons, the most threes a game by the player who finished first in rebounds was 1.7, by Nikola Jokić last season. Kevin Love made 1.2 a game when he led the league in 2010-11.

Season	Rebounding leader	Team	Rebounds a game	Threes made a game
2016-17	Hassan Whiteside	Heat	14.1	0.0
2017-18	Andre Drummond	Pistons	16.0	0.0
2018-19	Andre Drummond	Pistons	15.6	0.1
2019-20	Andre Drummond	Pistons and Cavaliers	15.2	0.1
2020-21	Clint Capela	Hawks	14.3	0.0
2021-22	Rudy Gobert	Jazz	14.7	0.0
2022-23	Domantas Sabonis	Kings	12.3	0.4
2023-24	Domantas Sabonis	Kings	13.7	0.4
2024-25	Domantas Sabonis	Kings	13.9	0.9
2025-26	Nikola Jokić	Nuggets	12.9	1.7
2026-27	Karl-Anthony Towns	Knicks	13.5 (so far)	1.9 (so far)

What to watch

Sabonis has the most 15-rebound games this season with five, so the race is close. The 6-5 Knicks play at Indiana on Friday. The Pacers are 4-8 and average 41.1 rebounds a game, fifth-fewest in the league. Leaders in every category are on the WhyNBA stats pages.