Russell Westbrook's Legacy is Defined by His Work Ethic and His Elite Productivity
Russell Westbrook's catchphrase is "Why not?" and his career is defined not just by that boundless optimism but by the fierce work ethic that justified his faith in himself. Westbrook retired on Wednesday after a tremendous 18 season career, announcing the decision in a social media post that began, "Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the end. You had to be there. And now it's over." The post included a video of Westbrook's highlights narrated by Michael B. Jordan. Westbrook silently walked through an unfinished Museum of Unspoken Answers while wearing a shirt that reads "Don't Rock With What They Say" on the front and "Why Not?" on the back. Westbrook reportedly had offers to play this season from the Sacramento Kings--the team he played for last season--and the Washington Wizards (one of his former teams), but he decided to leave the game on his terms.
Make no mistake, Westbrook can still play--and he is not playing at a veteran minimum salary level, either. Last season,Westbrook averaged 15.2 ppg, 6.7 apg, and 5.4 rpg for the Sacramento Kings in 64 games. Those numbers ranked 59th, 13th, and 67th in the league. He averaged more assists than regular season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, more rebounds than Tobias Harris (the starting power forward for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference), and more points than Nikola Vucevic, Jaden McDaniels, and Mikal Bridges. Westbrook ranked first on the Kings in assists, fourth in scoring, and fourth in rebounding (minimum 300 total rebounds).
Early in the season, he passed Jason Kidd for most career rebounds by a guard. Westbrook and LeBron James are the only players in pro basketball history who have scored at least 25,000 points and dished for at least 10,000 assists. Westbrook ranks fifth in ABA/NBA history with 10,351 assists, and 16th in ABA/NBA history with 27,176 points. He is the all-time leader in triple doubles in a career (209) and a season (42 in 2016-17). Westbrook led the league in triple doubles in six seasons (2015-19, 2021), he led the league in assists three times (2018-19, 2021), and he won two scoring titles (2015, 2017). He won the 2017 regular season MVP plus two All-Star Game MVPs (2015, 2016); unlike many of his peers, he played hard in All-Star Games. Westbrook and Oscar Robertson are the only players who averaged a triple double for an entire season, a feat that Robertson accomplished once (1961-62; he averaged an aggregate triple double for his first five seasons), and that Westbrook did four times (2017-19, 2021). Westbrook earned selection to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.
Westbrook reached the top of the game but--unlike many NBA superstars--he was not highly recruited out of high school. He eventually landed at UCLA, and after two years as a Bruin he worked his way up to being the fourth pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics, who moved to Oklahoma City before the start of the 2008-09 season. Westbrook averaged 15.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, and 4.9 rpg as a rookie to finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting behind Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, and Brook Lopez.
In his third season, Westbrook earned the first of nine All-Star selections and the first of nine All-NBA Team selections after averaging 21.9 ppg, 8.2 apg (ninth in the league), and 4.6 rpg. The Thunder improved from 23-59 in Westbrook's rookie season to 50-32 in his second season to 55-27 in his third season while making the first of four Western Conference Finals appearances in a six year span. By that time, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had formed one of the best duos in the league. In 2011-12, Durant made All-NBA First Team, Westbrook made All-NBA Second Team, and James Harden won Sixth Man of the Year as the Thunder advanced to the NBA Finals before losing 4-1 to the Miami Heat.
The Thunder seemed poised to become the NBA's next dynasty, but that iteration of the squad did not reach the NBA Finals again. Harden refused to accept sixth man status, so the Thunder shipped him to Houston before the 2012-13 season. The Thunder did not miss a beat without Harden, finishing first in the Western Conference with a 60-22 record with Durant (All-NBA First Team) and Westbrook (All-NBA Second Team) leading the way. However, disaster struck in the second game of the first round as Houston's Patrick Beverley crashed into Westbrook, tearing Westbrook's right meniscus. The Thunder still beat the Rockets 4-2, but without Westbrook they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 4-1 in the second round.
Westbrook did not miss a game in his first five seasons but his right knee did not completely heal prior to the 2013-14 season, and he played just 46 games in that campaign. Westbrook hit his stride down the stretch, averaging 26.2 ppg, 7.0 apg, and 6.0 rpg in six April games. Westbrook maintained that high level of play in the postseason, averaging a then playoff career high 26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg as the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals before losing 4-2 to the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.
Many media members make no secret about playing favorites, and it was evident early in Westbrook's career that he was not on the favorites list. In 2014, I prophetically asserted that he was poised to inherit Kobe Bryant's dual status as best guard in the NBA and underrated superstar:
Kobe Bryant has been the best guard in the NBA for the better part of the past decade or so but an Achilles injury knocked him out of the 2013 playoffs and caused him to miss most of the 2013-14 regular season before a broken leg sidelined him for the remainder of the current campaign; he made the 2013 All-NBA First Team but his reign as the league's top backcourt performer is likely over, even if he returns to action next season. Bryant has been underrated for most of his career, with critics sniping at his alleged selfishness and foolishly suggesting that the L.A. Lakers were better off when Bryant shot fewer times even when Bryant was at the height of his powers, leading the Lakers to championships while also setting various individual scoring records. There are many reasons that the Lakers have sunk to historic lows this season but the biggest single factor is that Bryant played in just six games.
One player seems poised to fill both of Bryant's roles--best guard in the NBA and vastly underrated superstar: Russell Westbrook. Westbrook helped lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best record in the Western Conference last season (60-22) after playing a major role in the Thunder's run to the 2012 NBA Finals but the Thunder's 2013 championship hopes were dashed when Houston's Patrick Beverly wiped out Westbrook's knee during the first round of the playoffs; sans Westbrook, the Thunder struggled to eliminate the mediocre Rockets before getting blasted 4-1 in the second round by a flawed Memphis team that was promptly swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Westbrook has already earned four All-Star selections and three All-NBA Second Team nods but in the second half of this season he has taken his game to a new, almost unprecedented level. Westbrook averaged 31.2 ppg, 10.3 apg and 9.1 rpg in February, joining Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average 30 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in a calendar month (minimum 10 games). During a five game span starting February 24, Westbrook ranked in the top five in the league in scoring (38.2 ppg, first), assists (9.8 apg, third) and rebounding (12.4 rpg, ninth).
He also became just the fourth player in NBA history to have at least three straight 40 point--five rebound--five assist games. Elgin Baylor did this for four straight games in 1960-61, while Michael Jordan (1988-89) and Wilt Chamberlain (1963-64) did it for three straight games each. Baylor also did it for three straight games during the 1962-63 season.
Westbrook has performed at a high level throughout the season and he is the only player in the league who ranks in the top five in scoring (27.3 ppg, first), assists (8.3 apg, fourth) and steals (2.1 spg, third).
Westbrook's critics say that he shoots too much, that he is selfish and that he does not play a winning style of basketball but the Thunder's record states otherwise. The Thunder are 30-19 with Westbrook this season (.612 winning percentage), including 12-5 since February 1 as the team began making a late playoff push despite being without the services of 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant for much of that time (the Thunder are 6-4 in the most recent 10 game stretch that Durant has missed). The Thunder are just 5-10 (.333 winning percentage) without Westbrook (that record includes some early season games that both Durant and Westbrook missed).
In 2014-15, Durant suffered a foot fracture and played in just 27 games as the Thunder posted a respectable 45-37 record but lost a tiebreaker for the eighth and final playoff berth. With Durant sidelined most of the season, Westbrook won his first scoring title (28.1 ppg) and finished fourth in MVP voting.
The last hurrah for the Durant-Westbrook duo happened in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. The Thunder raced to a 3-1 lead versus the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors before the record-setting 73-9 Warriors won three straight games to return to the NBA Finals. Westbrook finished fourth in MVP voting that season, while Durant was a distant fifth, and Westbrook made the All-NBA First Team while Durant made the All-NBA Second Team.
After shooting 1-7 from the field in the fourth quarter of a game six Western Conference Finals loss at home before losing game seven 96-88 on the road, Durant decided that he preferred to flee Oklahoma City to join the Warriors instead of accepting the challenge of trying to beat them.
Westbrook reacted not by complaining or demanding a trade but by signing a two year contract extension at a time when the franchise was in a vulnerable state. Over the next three seasons, Westbrook solidified his elite status while keeping the Thunder relevant, starting off with a record-setting 2016-17 season during which Westbrook became the only player other than Oscar Robertson to average a triple double for an entire season. The MVP voters have often been wrong in the past several decades, but I noted that they got it right when they selected Westbrook in 2017:
Westbrook won his second scoring title (career-high 31.6 ppg), he ranked third in assists (10.4 apg) and he finished 10th in rebounding (10.7 rpg, an unprecedented average for a 6-3 point guard). Westbrook tallied three 50 point triple doubles, setting both the single season and career records in that category.
Westbrook's amazing individual numbers directly correlated with his team's success. He broke Oscar Robertson's single season record by notching 42 triple doubles and the Oklahoma City Thunder went 33-9 in those games, compared to 14-26 in the remaining games; a 33-9 record projects to 64-18 over a full 82 game season, while 14-26 projects to 29-53. Essentially, when Westbrook played at a historically great level he elevated the Thunder to elite status but when he was "merely" good the Thunder were the equivalent of a Draft Lottery team. The Thunder's relative performance when Westbrook was on the court compared to when he was off the court told the same story: with Westbrook on the court, this flawed roster could compete with just about anyone but take Westbrook out of the game and the Thunder morphed into the league's worst team by far.
His critics note that Westbrook did not win an NBA title, but the reality is that Westbrook's teams often outperformed reasonable expectations, and his MVP season epitomizes that: the Thunder with Westbrook leading the way sans Durant were much better than anyone could have reasonably expected.
The way that Westbrook's historically great individual performance impacted team success is the most underrated aspect of his career. As David Aldridge recently noted, Westbrook's teams posted a 153-56 record in his 209 regular season triple double games. That .732 winning percentage is equivalent to a 60-22 record for an 82 game season, and such high level team success refutes the notion that Westbrook was chasing individual glory at the cost of his teams; his teams would have not won nearly as many games if Westbrook had not played with such heart and if he had not been so productive.
In 2019 after Westbrook logged just the second 20-20-20 game in pro basketball history, I placed not just this accomplishment but Westbrook's overall dominance into historical perspective:
Russell Westbrook is on the verge of clinching his third straight season of averaging a triple double--an unprecedented feat that is, inexplicably, largely being ignored--and he is doing so with style: during Oklahoma City's 119-103 win over the L.A. Lakers on Tuesday night, Westbrook posted 20 points, 20 rebounds and 21 assists, just the second 20-20-20 game in pro basketball history. As you probably would guess if you did not know, Wilt Chamberlain was the first player to accomplish this, with 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists in Philadelphia's 131-121 win over Detroit on February 2, 1968.
After Westbrook's jaw-dropping performance, Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas--serving as a TNT commentator during the "Players Only" telecast--said that in an era of great point guards Westbrook is not mentioned enough. Thomas also declared that Westbrook is the "most dominant" point guard of this era. That is true. No other point guard is equally dominant as a scorer, rebounder and passer the way that Westbrook is. Westbrook can match anyone in the league bucket for bucket as a scorer, he rebounds better than most centers and he has become the league's best playmaker, defying the critics who used to say that Westbrook was a shooting guard masquerading as a point guard.
The best thing about Westbrook, though, is the thing that we should be able to take for granted about pro athletes but is in fact an increasingly rare quality: Westbrook plays hard, all the time. He would agree with Jeff Van Gundy's oft-repeated statement that the idea of "load management" is a load of something else...
I understand--but don't accept--that media coverage of basketball is largely driven now by hype and memes and highlights and tweets, but how many NBA players are actually better at playing basketball--at scoring, rebounding and passing--than Russell Westbrook?
After the Thunder lost in the first round for the third straight year, they traded Westbrook to Houston, reuniting him with his former teammate James Harden. The Rockets lost in the first round in the 2020 "bubble" playoffs, and then they sent Westbrook to the Washington Wizards for John Wall.
Oscar Robertson's career triple double record stood for nearly 50 years--longer than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record that LeBron James broke. After Westbrook surpassed Robertson during the 2020-21 season, I placed this feat in historical context:
It is important to understand Robertson's rightful place in basketball history in order to appreciate what Russell Westbrook has accomplished and how great Westbrook is. Westbrook's 28 points, 21 assists, and 13 rebounds in Washington's 125-124 loss to Atlanta on Monday night broke his tie with Robertson on the career triple double list, and established Westbrook as the all-time triple double king. Robertson's record stood for the vast majority of NBA history up to this point, and even with the increasing number of triple doubles we see today it may very well be 50 years before anyone surpasses Westbrook's final total; the second highest ranking current player, LeBron James, has 99 triple doubles. A player could play 72 games a year for 10 seasons, have a triple double every four games, and still not match Westbrook's current total; the high level of durability and productivity necessary to perform like Westbrook does is vastly underrated.
The fact that the transcendently great Nikola Jokic is likely to pass Westbrook on the career triple double list next season speaks to Jokic's elite status more than it diminishes the value of Westbrook's accomplishment. Jokic currently has 198 career triple doubles, and the next active player on the list is LeBron James (125), followed by Luka Doncic (90). James is not going to approach Westbrook's total, and Doncic's triple double pace has slowed significantly in the past two years, making it unlikely that he will catch Westbrook.
Westbrook averaged a triple double (22.2 ppg, league-leading/career-high 11.7 apg, career-high 11.5 rpg) in his lone season with the Wizards. I am only being slightly hyperbolic when I say that leading the Wizards to the playoffs while averaging a triple double is sufficient to earn Hall of Fame induction for Westbrook, but it should be emphasized that the Wizards did not make the playoffs in the two years prior to Westbrook's arrival and have not made the playoffs in the five years since they traded him to the L.A. Lakers.
Perhaps the nadir for Westbrook's career was when LeBron James and his media sycophants attempted to make Westbrook the scapegoat for all of the Lakers' problems. It is worth noting that after James led the Lakers to the 2020 "bubble" title, he led the Lakers to just one Western Conference Finals, one second round loss, three first round losses, and one non-playoff season. During Westbrook's lone full season with the Lakers, he played in a team-high 78 games while James was eighth on the team with 56 games and Anthony "Don't Call me 'Street Clothes'" Davis was 11th on the team with 40 games played. I cannot recall another situation during which the team's two best players missed so many games but somehow the team's failure to perform well is supposedly the fault of the team's third option.
Hubie Brown--who is perhaps the greatest NBA game analyst of all-time--praised Westbrook's play with the Lakers even in a loss: "I'm happy for him. He never quit on himself. He keeps playing hard...He knows that he is going to get hit (driving to the hoop) but he punishes himself because he wants to win the game...He took over this game in the third quarter, and you love to see it because that is who he is. You can knock him, you can say you don't like him, but he plays hard and he earns his money every night."
In marked contrast to Brown's objective take on Westbrook, Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper propagated the unfounded notion that Westbrook is a selfish player who allegedly stole rebounds from his teammates. In 2019, I critiqued this stubbornly held assertion in Are Rebounds Fungible?:
Last season, Westrbook led the Oklahoma City Thunder in rebounding (11.1 rpg, 10th in the league) and the team ranked second with 48.1 rpg. The Thunder ranked sixth in rebounding differential (+2.4), which means that their high rebounding totals are not just related to pace; they outrebounded their opponents on a consistent basis.
This season, Westbrook plays for the Houston Rockets. If Westbrook were "stealing" rebounds from his teammates, then one could reasonably expect that his former team's rebounding prowess would not decline much in his absence, and that the next best rebounder on his former team (Steven Adams) would increase his rebounding average. Instead, through 24 games (30% of the season) the Thunder rank 25th in rebounding (43.0 rpg) and 23rd in rebounding differential (-2.4). Adams is averaging 9.4 rpg, essentially the same as his 9.5 rpg average last season.
Meanwhile, last season the Rockets without Westbrook ranked 28th in rebounding (42.1 rpg) and 27th in rebounding differential (-3.4). This season, the Rockets with Westbrook rank third in rebounding (48.0 rpg) and ninth in rebounding differential (+1.8).
The numbers show that after losing Westbrook the Thunder went from being an elite rebounding team to being a poor rebounding team, while after adding Westbrook the Rockets went from being a poor rebounding team to being an elite rebounding team. Yes, there have been other personnel changes for both teams--particularly the Thunder, who also lost Paul George--but if rebounds were fungible and if Westbrook were really just "stealing" rebounds it is unlikely that his old team and his new team would have swapped places in terms of their rebounding rankings.
Westbrook concluded his career by playing a little over one year with the L.A. Clippers followed by single season stints with the Denver Nuggets and the Sacramento Kings. During his brief time in Denver, Westbrook and Jokic set a record by becoming the first teammates to each have a triple double in the same game twice in the same season.
The false perceptions and narratives about his time with the Lakers may have damaged his value toward the end of Westbrook's career, but Westbrook also faced the same reality that many NBA veterans are dealing with now: the league's salary structure is focused on highly compensating the elite players combined with cost control for young players and low salaries for aging veterans. Westbrook proved long ago that he can perform at an MVP/All-NBA Team level for teams that make deep playoff runs, and he also showed that he could raise the floor of a moribund team like the Wizards. The notion that Westbrook somehow damaged his legacy by playing for several teams in his last few seasons makes as little sense as the assertion that he "stole" rebounds from teammates. Vince Carter glided into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a first ballot selection with a resume that is not half as good as Westbrook's: Carter did not win an MVP, a scoring title, or an assists title, he never made the All-NBA First Team and in his final seven seasons he played for four teams while averaging more than 10 ppg just once. Those facts are not cited to belittle Carter but rather to point out the absurdity of the comments that are made about Westbrook.
In an era during which the NBA developed a lot of collective bad habits--including overreliance on three point shooting, the rise of load management, and as many as a third of the league's teams tanking--Westbrook stands out as a player who attacked the hoop to score, rebound, and pass, who loathed missing games, and who would not dream of doing anything other than trying 100% to win every game.
The NBA is worse off without Westbrook and the example he set.
Labels: Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, James Harden, Kevin Durant, L.A. Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings, Seattle Supersonics, Washington Wizards
posted by David Friedman @ 12:50 AM
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