Simply put, Russell Westbrook was the most physically gifted and imposing point guard I have ever watched play basketball. The king of the triple-double.
The former fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft arrived in Oklahoma City and quickly became part of one of the most talented young cores the league has ever seen alongside Kevin Durant and James Harden. That young Thunder team grew up together and eventually reached the 2012 NBA Finals. They never accomplished their ultimate goal of bringing a championship to Oklahoma City, but Russ gave that franchise everything he had.
And nobody played basketball quite like Russell Westbrook. He played like an angry tiger had been released onto the court. Every time he attacked the basket, it looked personal. Every time he dunked the basketball, it looked like the rim had somehow offended him before the game.
There have been more polished point guards. There have been better shooters. There have been players who played with more control. But I don’t know if there has ever been another point guard who combined Westbrook’s speed, strength, explosiveness and relentless aggression. At his peak, he was like Derrick Rose turned up another level.
And then came the moment that changed his career.
Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City in 2016 to join the Golden State Warriors, the same team that had just eliminated the Thunder after Oklahoma City held a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals.
Russ stayed.
And what followed was one of the most ridiculous individual seasons in NBA history. During the 2016-17 season, Westbrook averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game.
A triple-double. For an entire season.
Before Russ did it, the last player to average a triple-double had been the great Oscar Robertson during the 1961-62 season. It had been more than half a century. Westbrook didn’t just match that accomplishment. He recorded 42 triple-doubles that season, breaking Robertson’s previous single-season record, and carried Oklahoma City to the playoffs while earning the 2017 NBA MVP award.
Then somehow, he kept doing it.
Russ averaged a triple-double again in 2017-18 and then again in 2018-19. Three consecutive seasons averaging a triple-double. After leaving Oklahoma City, he eventually did it for a fourth time with the Washington Wizards in 2020-21.
Something that once seemed almost impossible became something we started expecting because Russell Westbrook made it look normal.
It wasn’t normal.
By the time his career ended, Westbrook had accumulated 209 triple-doubles, the most in NBA history. But reducing Russell Westbrook to triple-doubles doesn’t do his career justice.
He retires with 27,176 points, 10,351 assists and 9,025 rebounds. He was a nine-time NBA All-Star, nine-time All-NBA selection, two-time scoring champion, three-time assists champion and the 2017 NBA Most Valuable Player. He finished his career fifth in NBA history in assists and 14th in points.
That’s an unbelievable basketball résumé.
And yes, there is one thing missing: a championship.
Russell Westbrook never won an NBA title. But neither did Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson or Steve Nash. Winning a championship is incredibly difficult, and basketball history is filled with all-time great players who never got to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
That doesn’t erase everything they accomplished, and it certainly doesn’t erase what Russell Westbrook accomplished.
What defined Russ was the way he competed. He never knew how to play at 80 percent. Every possession looked like it mattered to him. Every fast break looked like Game 7. Every trip to the rim looked like a personal challenge.
For nearly two decades, basketball fans got to watch one of the most unique athletes the sport has ever produced. Russell Westbrook leaves the game as an MVP, the greatest triple-double machine basketball has ever seen and one of the most explosive point guards in NBA history.
No championship ring can change that.
It was a pleasure watching him play basketball.
Thank you, Russ.
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