Russell Westbrook: His Biggest Challenge
Nobody in the NBA is more hard-headed than Russell Westbrook. He’s always up for a challenge, and that’s why he should stay in Oklahoma City.
We’re barely over the heartbreak of Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City and we’re already discussing the possibility of Russell Westbrook being traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I get it. I actually joked with my friend prior to Durant leaving that, if Durant left, Sam Presti should think long and hard about trading Westbrook. Here was my rational: The Thunder aren’t going to win this year. After years of “title or bust,” we’re now left with “uhhhh, I hope something good happens.”
After this year, it’s possible Westbrook leaves for nothing and Oklahoma City has to officially start their rebuilding process with Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams. Why not start the rebuilding process a year early by trading Westbrook and acquiring more young talent and draft picks?
In sports, mediocrity is the worst. You either want to be good enough to contend or bad enough to get talent who will help you contend in a few years. Being just good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough for a top seven pick is the sports equivalent of the friend zone.
That’s why I wanted OKC to trade Westbrook.
Then Durant actually left. Now, I don’t want to lose Westbrook as well. I admit, trading #0 still makes a ton of sense. If Presti gets the right deal (I’d love D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram from the Los Angeles Lakers) then I wouldn’t blame him for pulling the trigger. However, despite not wanting to re-negotiate his contract at this moment, I can see Westbrook wanting to stay in Oklahoma City.
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We know who Russell Westbrook is. He doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s an emotional, no nonsense, alpha who loves to terrorize people on the basketball court. If you tell Westbrook he can’t do something, he’s going to punch you in the face and then go do it.
Right now, everyone is telling Westbrook that he can’t lead Oklahoma City to the top of the mountain. And they’re probably right. As much as I love Westbrook, we’ve seen what happens when he’s the #1 option. He puts up video game numbers, but they don’t translate to wins. In fairness, this Thunder team is better than the Thunder team that Westbrook led two years ago, Billy Donovan is a better coach than Scott Brooks, and there isn’t the “Durant linger” surrounding the team. Still, I have a hard time believing that he can lead the Thunder past the second round of the playoffs.
But I don’t care. I want to see angry Westbrook torch everything in his path like Denzel Washington in Man on Fire. Denzel dies at the end of the movie, but he made his presence felt. He had a goal: get Dakota Fanning back. And he sacrificed himself to accomplish that goal. That’s the Russell Westbrook I want this year. The goal, unfortunately, isn’t a title. The goal is to defy anyone who says that he can’t lead the team and that he won’t stay with the franchise. That he’ll leave like Durant, for a bigger market and a better team.
Westbrook is a prideful individual. Oftentimes, it gets in the way of him succeeding. I know it, Thunder fans know it, NBA fans know it. I don’t care this year. I want to see Westbrook taking shots that he has no business taking, gambling on defense and driving to the hoop in an out of control manner. I want to see him yelling after a dunk, strutting after a three, dancing with Cam Payne.
The Westbrook revenge tour is going to be must-see TV.
And that’s why Oklahoma City shouldn’t trade Westbrook. They can’t afford to lose him for nothing in the offseason, but they have to understand just who Westbrook is. They have to understand that Westbrook isn’t going to be influenced by those that say he can’t win in Oklahoma City, that he can’t become a global fashion icon in a small city, that things would be easier for him on a different team. They have to understand that Westbrook is going to punch all those people in the face and then proceed to prove them all wrong or die trying.
We know Russell Westbrook. He’s not going to back down from a challenge. Leading the post-Durant Thunder will be the biggest challenge of his career.