Paul George had some high praise for Steven Adams on Thursday.

After learning of a new statistic the NBA recently created, he was quick to name Adams the best rebounder in the game.

The NBA created a new stat that tracks the number of box-outs a player has each game. Adams leads the league in this new category and he leads by a large margin, too.

So far this season, Adams has recorded 623 total box-outs or 11.5 per game. Former Thunder player Enes Kanter is second in the league in box-outs with 521 and Bulls center Robin Lopez is third with 494.

The box-outs category falls under the league’s hustle stats, which have been expanded in recent years. Deflections, loose-balls recovered, contested shots, charges drawn and screen assists are among the other categories covered in the league’s hustle stats.

The NBA wanted to reward those players that may not show up too often on a traditional box score. They wanted to highlight the small things that teams and players do that will ultimately lead to wins.

While Adams is a key player for the Thunder and fills out a traditional box score plenty on a nightly basis, he also does a lot of the dirty work that is beginning to be recorded through these hustle stats.

George is not surprised that Adams leads the league in box-outs.

“Well, it’s not surprising,” George said. “He’s the best rebounder in our game. There’s no question about that. He’s the best rebounder so that’s not surprising at all. That’s a hell of a stat, though.”

Adams is averaging a career-high 13.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and one block per game this season. Although he ranks 15th in the league in rebounds per game, he currently leads the league in offensive rebounds with 5.2 per game.

The team as a whole is first in the league in offensive rebounding percentage and in offensive team rebounding with Adams a huge reason for their success rebounding.

So, when George says Adams is the best rebounder in the game, he’s not all that far off in his assessment.