Russell Westbrook has been having a magical season as the lone alpha dog in Oklahoma City and has managed to do the unthinkable thus far by averaging a triple-double through the first half of the 2016-17 NBA season.
In 42 games he is averaging 30.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game for the 25-17 Thunder.
He also accomplished another historic milestone Sunday night after his 36 point, 11 rebound and 10 assist performance in the Thunder’s 122-118 win over the Kings in Sacramento.
He became just the third player in NBA history to record 20 triple-doubles in a season, joining Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain, who did it five times and two times respectively.
Russell Westbrook joins Oscar Robertson & Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in @NBA history to record 20 triple-doubles in a season. pic.twitter.com/dv7fmE6Q6z
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 16, 2017
Westbrook is having the most statistically impressive season for a player in the NBA in 55 years. He is just below pace to match or beat the Big O’s mind-boggling record of 41 triple-doubles in a single season and is on pace to become the first player since Robertson, in 1961-62, to average a triple-double in a season.
The stigma of that record has been pervasive in NBA history and has been held up with some of the other most unbreakable records in sports including Wilt’s 100 point game, Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak and even Cy Young’s 511 career wins (that will absolutely never be broken).
Westbrook continues to leave us in awe on a nightly basis and we should really appreciate the performance he is putting together this season as it is one of the best we have ever seen in any professional sport.
