Earlier this week, the NBA All-Star starters were announced. Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis will start for the Western Conference while DeMar DeRozan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Jimmy Butler will start for the Eastern Conference. Guess which one of them is the dude averaging 30.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game? The answer is none of the above. The dude with that RIDICULOUS stat line is Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and yeah, that's right, he's not an NBA All-Star starter!
I don't want this blog post to turn into a discussion of who should be booted off to make room for Russell Westbrook. All five players who have been named All-Star starters in the Western Conference are having excellent seasons of their own and I don't want to diminish a particular player's success through suggesting that he shouldn't be an All-Star starter.
With that being said, it is still an utter joke that Russell Westbrook was not named an NBA All-Star starter. The man is averaging a triple-double through 44 games and is attempting to be the second player in NBA history to average a triple double through a full season. The only one to do it was Oscar Robertson back in the 1961-62 season and that season is widely regarded as the greatest statistical season that any individual has had in NBA history.
Averaging a triple-double for a full season is the stuff of legends. It almost has a mythical aura to it as if it isn't actually possible. It's the basketball equivalent of Paul Bunyan creating the Grand Canyon with his axe or Chuck Norris counting to infinity twice. It's almost too impressive of a feat to be possible and yet through 44 games, Russell Westbrook is doing it.
I don't care how good the other NBA All-Star starters are. When you are accomplishing a statistical feat that has only been done once in NBA history back when John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, you have to be an NBA All-Star starter. It's that simple.
In addition to his frightening stat line, Russell Westbrook has won back-to-back NBA All-Star Game MVP awards. This isn't like he's come out of nowhere. Russell Westbrook has been an elite NBA player for quite some time and right when he's in the middle of perhaps the greatest statistical season in NBA history, he gets snubbed as an NBA All-Star starter.
People will try to justify Russell Westbrook not being a starter by saying that the Thunder are not doing as well as the Warriors, Rockets, or Spurs. The problem with this logic is that the NBA All-Star Game is all about the best individuals in the NBA and rewarding the players who are having the best individual seasons. NBA championships are given to teams while MVP awards, All-Star appearances, and other accolades are given to individuals. Given that starting in the NBA All-Star Game is an individual accolade, Russell Westbrook belongs in the game as a starter and that's that.
What I find to be most surprising about all of this is the fact that fans only decided 50% of the vote with media and players counting for the other 50%. One would certainly think that the media and players would have recognized Russell Westbrook's accomplishments enough to get him voted in as an NBA All-Star starter. Hell, any knowledgeable NBA fan should have voted for him as well. If you just look at his stat line, that alone should be enough to vote for him. No questions asked.
While I don't want to come off as arrogant or condescending, the fact that Russell Westbrook isn't an NBA All-Star starter is a flat out joke. Actually, it's much worse than that. It's an insult to the game of basketball itself. Dr. James Naismith is rolling in his grave right now and I'm sure Oscar Robertson is insulted, too.
What Russell Westbrook is doing is beyond historic. It's monumental. His season warrants more than just starting in the NBA All-Star Game. It warrants the regular season NBA MVP award. In an even more disgusting twist, the man who bailed on Oklahoma City and left Russell Westbrook behind for greener pastures is starting in the NBA All-Star game while Russell Westbrook will have to come off the bench. That reeks with injustice and should make us all wonder whether or not we value winning a little too much.
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