From 2009 to 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder boasted three future MVPs in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. However, Harden primarily came off the bench, while Durant and Westbrook were the faces of the franchises. The forward was the oldest of the three and was the best player on the roster, but Tony Allen believes the guard was the engine that ran the team.
On the Out of the Mud podcast, the former Grizzlies star, who battled the Thunder in the playoffs in 2011 and 2013, claimed Durant was a menace to deal with, but without Westbrook’s leadership, OKC wouldn’t have been as good and as consistent as they were. He said,
“It was more so like damn. It was a clear favorite for it to be Kevin Durant’s team simply because he score a little easier, but Russell Westbrook is the heart and soul of that mo********ing team, you couldn’t deny that. And like I said, they was a force in both of they own way.”
Durant was the first option on offense throughout his nine-year stint with the franchise. While Westbrook was the primary ball-handler, he was a lot more than just the floor general.
The guard’s biggest asset was, and to this day is, his relentless hustle. He tirelessly ran up and down the court and used his athleticism to be a force of nature on both ends of the court.
Westbrook’s ability to switch gears and leave defenders in the dust meant teams had to be wary and expend most of their energy trying to contain the guard. His otherworldly agility and ability to get to the rim with ease opened spaces for Durant, who would exploit his matchups.
They were the best one-two punch in the league and should have made it to their second NBA Finals together in 2016. However, they blew a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, and Durant, unsure if he could win a championship in OKC, left the team to join the team that ended their season.
The forward signing with the Warriors should have been Westbrook’s cue to demand an exit from the Thunder. But he stayed loyal to the franchise.
Brodie held it down for the Thunder
After Durant’s astonishing decision to join the Warriors in 2016, he became the league’s biggest villain and lost all the goodwill he had built in Oklahoma City. However, his departure allowed Westbrook to be the primary ball handler as well as the first option on offense and he made the most of the opportunity.
In his first season without Durant by his side, the guard averaged 34.3 points, 10.2 assists, and 10.1 rebounds and became the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to average a triple-double. He took home the scoring title, won the MVP award, and established himself as the greatest player in the franchise’s history.
He spent two more seasons with the team and averaged a triple-double each year before being traded to the Rockets as OKC decided to hit the reset button and rebuild their roster from the ground up.
Westbrook’s career has been up and down since his exit from the Thunder, but nobody can take away what he did in Oklahoma City and it’ll take some doing for another player to usurp him as the franchise’s GOAT.