When you think of the elite players in the NBA, a few players come to mind. According to ESPN, the top five current players in the NBA are Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and James Harden. These players deserve to be on that list as they all boast an accomplished resume, but one player that often gets excluded from that list is Russell Westbrook—the explosive point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Now, for the sake of transparency, I will be comparing Russell Westbrook to the elite point guards in NBA history. Along with their top five players, ESPN released another list compiled with the 10 best players and their respective positions. Naturally, a list containing the 10 best point guards of all time was posted, and the results went as followed:
1. Magic Johnson
2. Oscar Robertson
3. John Stockton
4. Stephen Curry
5. Isiah Thomas
6. Chris Paul
7. Steve Nash
8. Jason Kidd
9. Walt Frazier
10. Bob Cousy
On the list above, there are only two current NBA players listed: Stephen Curry and Chris Paul. By being placed on this list, they are essentially being named the two best current point guards in the NBA. Going into his seventh season, Stephen Curry’s career game averages consists of 21.7 points, 3.2 turnovers, 1.8 steals, 6.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds. In regards to shooting, Curry shoots 47.5 percent from the field, 44.2 percent from the three point line and 91.2 percent from the free throw line. To finish off his stat line, Curry has six triple- doubles in his name along with boasting 2.15 assist to turnover ratio.
Next up is Chris Paul who is currently going into his 11th year in the NBA. His career per game averages includes 18.7 points, 2.4 turnovers, 2.3 steals, 9.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds. Shooting wise, Paul, for his career, shoots 47.3 percent from the field, 36.6 percent from the three point line and 86.2 percent from the free throw line. To finish off his stat line, Paul also has recorded 12 triple-doubles along with posting a 4.09 assist to turnover ratio.
Last but not least, it’s time to look at Russell Westbrook's stats. Going into his eighth season, his career game averages include 21.4 points per game, 3.7 turnovers, 1.8 steals, 7.4 assists and 5.4 rebounds. When it comes to shooting, Westbrook, for his career shoots 43.4 percent from the field, 30.2 percent from the three point line and 81.9 percent from the free throw line. Finally, Westbrook has 24 triple-doubles and a 2.00 assist to turnover ratio.
By comparing Westbrook's stat line to that of Curry and Paul, we immediately see that his rebounding average easily surpasses Curry’s and Paul’s. If you take a look at scoring, Westbrook's scoring numbers are better than that of Paul’s (Paul averages 18.7 points per game, while Westbrook averages 21.4 points per game). When compared to Curry’s scoring averages, the numbers are basically identical even though Curry’s average surpasses Westbrook's by 0.4 points. Assist wise, Westbrook’s 7.4 assists per game is greater than Curry’s 6.9 assists per game, but is less than Chris Paul’s, who boasts an astounding 9.9 assists per game. Both Curry and Paul have better shooting stats than Westbrook in regards to field goal, three point and free throw line percentages.
The final stat I want to take a look at is triple-doubles. For his career, Westbrook has recorded 24 triple-doubles. This is twice as many as Chris Paul, who has been in the NBA three years longer than Westbrook. Westbrook’s triple-double number quadruples that of Stephen Curry seeing that he only has six while Westbrook has 24.
From the comparison above it would be a stretch to say that Westbrook is definitively better than both Curry and Paul, but he is definitely in their equal and even arguably better than them in certain aspects of the game. When analysts rank the best current NBA point guards, there should be a three-way tie for No. 1 between the Westbrook, Curry and Paul.
Since we’ve just compared Westbrook to the best current players, I think it’s time to see how he stacks up against the greatest point guards of all time. As I stated earlier, ESPN released a list of the top NBA point guards of all time, which looked like:
1. Magic Johnson
2. Oscar Robertson
3. John Stockton
4. Stephen Curry
5. Isiah Thomas
6. Chris Paul
7. Steve Nash
8. Jason Kidd
9. Walt Frazier
10. Bob Cousy
The only two players on that list to average more points per game than Westbrook are Stephen Curry and Oscar Robertson, making him a top three scorer among the greatest point guards to ever play in the NBA. When it comes to rebounding, Westbrook ranks at No. 5 on that list, with only Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and Walt Frazier surpassing him. Russell Westbrook also ranks top five with triple-doubles among point guards on that list. Lastly, Westbrook’s assist numbers are better than that of Walt Frazier and Stephen Curry.
Like I said earlier in the article, all of the players analyzed today are wonderful players, and it would be egregious to discredit their work in favor of another play. However, with all that being said, Westbrook's stats cannot be ignored, and I truly believe that he deserves more recognition than he gets. Besides, no point guard on that list has swag like this:
