Entering his 13th season, Russell Westbrook was traded to the Washington Wizards to pair alongside 3x all star shooting guard Bradley Beal. When Westbrook came into Washington, his job was to fill John Wall’s shoes. The NBA media and a lot of fans doubted Westbrook had any mileage left on his athletic legs but the former UCLA point guard was destined to prove the haters wrong.
Westbrook has achieved many accolades in his career. He was the point guard to an Oklahoma City Thunder team in 2011-2012 that went to the NBA Finals vs Lebron James and the Miami Heat. After Kevin Durant departed the OKC Thunder, Westbrook went on to achieve some individual success. He won his only MVP in 2017 and was a 2x scoring champion (2015, 2017) and 2x assist leader (2018 and 2019).
Westbrook is also familiar with being in the All-NBA teams. He was on the 1st team two times in 2016 and 2017. He was on the 2nd team five times in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018. Westbrook was also awarded the 3rd time 2019 and 2020. He is looking to make the All-NBA team this year in 2021 after putting up an incredible stat filled year.
This year in Washington, Westbrook averages 22 points, 11.6 rebounds and 11.5 assists playing in 61 games while trying to push the Wizards into the playoffs. He leads the league with 700 assists, which is 105 over Chris Paul who sits at second place with 595. He also averages the most assists per game with 11.5. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks is in second place with 9.5 per game. The assists numbers translates as productivity on the court as his shooting guard, Bradley Beal is 2nd in the scoring title race. Beal is averaging 31.4 points per game and trailing Steph Curry by 59 points for the title.
Westbrook has shown throughout this season that even if being an NBA Champion isn’t an ideal possibility with the roster in Washington, he is going to go all out every single night. He’s has 3 games scoring over 40+ points, 2 games with over 20 assists and 11 games with 15+ assists. To top it off with only being 6’3″ he has had 2 games with over 20 rebounds and 13 games with over 15+ rebounds.
Here are some of Westbrooks best games in a Wizards uniform this year.
January 31st vs Nets- 41 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists
February 22 @ Lakers- 32 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists
March 13 vs Bucks- 42 points, 10 assists, 12 rebounds
March 18th vs Jazz- 35 points, 15 rebounds, 13 assists
March 21st vs Nets- 29 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists
March 27th vs Pistons- 19 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists
March 29th vs Pacers- 35 points, 14 rebounds, 21 assists
April 16th vs Pelicans- 36 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists
April 23rd @ Thunder- 37 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists
April 28th vs Lakers- 18 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists
May 1st @ Mavericks- 42 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds
May 3rd vs Pacers- 14 points, 21 rebounds, 21 assists
May 8th @ Pacers- 33 points, 19 rebounds, 15 assists
April was a scorching hot month for the 12 year veteran averaging 21 points, 13.9 rebounds and 11.9 assists. In the 17 games in April, the Wizards went 12-5 with Westbrook with 14 triple doubles. That stat has broken an NBA record for most triple doubles in one calendar month.
Westbrook was also just named Eastern Conference Player of the Week in May by averaging 22.3 points, 17.3 rebounds, and 18.3 assists while leading the Wizards to a 3-1 record in this past week. He had a huge game on May 8th while also tying Oscar Robertsons all time triple double record at 181. Westbrook looks to break that record tonight against the Atlanta Hawks.
Russell Westbrook is creeping in the history books looking to record his 182 triple double, making him the all time leader in that statistical category. He also just surpassed Rod Strickland to be 12th on the all time assist leader list with 7,998 and looking to be a part of the 8,000+ assist club tonight.
In all reality, Westbrook will never be the No. 1 option for a championship club and probably will never be a champion. With that being said, for NBA fans and the media, after seeing #4 from DC this year just ball out. Is Russell Westbrook really washed?
Crev’s Corner 