I am a firm believer that people eventually get what they deserve and that this is Russell Westbrook’s year for that. Now that the NBA regular-season has come to an end, it is time for votes to be made by select writers and broadcasters for this season’s Most Valuable Player Award. The race to the MVP is, in reality, only between two players: Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and James Harden of the Houston Rockets. While some people argue that Harden should be awarded MVP, Westbrook is truly the only option.
In the first season following the departure of Westbrook’s former friend and teammate, Kevin Durant, who signed with the Golden State Warriors as a free agent, Westbrook was still able to lead his team to the playoffs. While the Thunder were unable to win 50 games this season and entered the playoffs as the sixth seed, as opposed to last season when they were the third, the team is still adjusting to losing its star player. When LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers before the 2010-2011 season for the Miami Heat, the team did not make the playoffs again until the 2014-2015 season, which is when James returned to Cleveland. It is difficult to adjust to losing a star player, but Westbrook has been successful in leading his team to 47 wins this season out of 82 games and a spot in the playoffs.
Despite the challenge of adjusting without Durant, Westbrook had the most stand-out season compared to any other player in the league. Westbrook has taken over the role of being the face of the franchise with ease in a historic season. Oscar Roberston set the record for the most triple-doubles in a season during the 1961-1962 season with 41 triple-doubles. After 55 years, the record was finally broken by Westbrook on April 9 when Westbrook finished the game against the Denver Nuggets with his 42nd triple-double of the season. On top of that, Westbrook also joined Robertson in being one of the few players to average triple-doubles throughout the season. With these historic accomplishments it is hard to imagine that anyone else would be named MVP. In 20 years people will still remember the season that Russell Westbrook made history, but no one will remember James Harden having another good season because he is a consistently good player.
While there are many reasons as to why Westbrook should be names MVP, I believe it is important to recognize that when I say Westbrook led the Thunder to the playoffs, it is because he is truly the only player on the team who did. If Westbrook was not on the team, the Thunder would have one of the worst records in the league and be entered in the lottery for the draft. During the game where Westbrook made history, he scored 50 points, including a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer. That was nearly half of the Thunder’s 106 points. When Westbrook has an off-night, it is almost guaranteed that the Thunder will lose, while if Harden has an off-night, the Rockets are still able to win. Not only has Westbrook had a great season as an individual player, but his value to his team is immense. On April 16, the Thunder played the Rockets in the first game of the first round of the playoffs and lost by 31 points. While MVPs are only voted for based on their performance in the regular season, this loss proves Westbrook to be worthy of the title. Westbrook finished the game only making 6-of-23 shots and he had no teammates that will make up for his off-night. His teammate, Victor Oladipo, shot 1-of-12. In contrast, Harden ended thegame with 37 points. In addition, Patrick Beverley had 21 points, Nene Hilario had 15 and Clint Capela had 15 as well. The points were pretty equally distributed throughout the team, just like many teams in the league, and definitely all of the teams in the playoffs. The Warriors have four All-Stars on the team, including Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. On top of that, they still have players like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston who will score over 15 points per game. The Cavaliers are another team with three All-Stars, including James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, that still has other good players, such as Kyle Korver, Tristian Thompson and Iman Shumpert. Having so many good players on a team allows players like James and Curry to take breaks and skip games whenever they chose to because they know that their team can win without them. Out of 82 games, Westbrook only missed one. He knew that his team would lose without him because there is no one else who can step up. While Harden also has only missed one game, he has a team that is able to score points.
While it is easy to argue that a player on a team with a better record deserves to be the MVP, in my opinion it says a lot more that Westbrook practically is his team. The NBA is filled with gifted players, they are professionals for a reason, but Westbrook’s season will go down in history. Now all he needs is more acknowledgement of this historic season with a well-deserved MVP Award.
