Russell Westbrook – Epic season in review

Feb 19, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) during halftime of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 19, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) during halftime of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook
Feb 26, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) is fouled by New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins (0) on a dunk during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

‘Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.’ – Woodrow Wilson

Last year’s offseason feels like ancient history by now, but it’s still an essential part in telling the story of Westbrook’s historic season. Of course, it all started with Kevin Durant’s departure to the Golden State Warriors.

Well, technically, it started with Sam Presti’s trade of Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic on draft night, but that’s not nearly as impactful as Durant’s leaving. The Thunder acquired Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, and Ersan Ilyasova (who was flipped for Jerami Grant) in exchange for Ibaka.

However, KD leaving cast a pall over the entire season. Remember, too, in the days after KD left, there were rumors of Russell Westbrook being on the trade block, to prevent him from leaving for nothing in return as well.

However, Russ assuaged all doubt when he inked an extension with the Thunder, cementing himself as the Hero of OKC. Unfortunately, the rest of Russell’s merry band had seen few, if any, playoff battles. For the most part, they were still training to be warriors (not like the Golden State kind, like the Beowulf kind, it’s part of the metaphor, okay?).

Most pundits expected the Thunder to regress from their 55-win mark of last season. Which they did, but not nearly as drastically as most thought prior to the beginning of the season. However, perhaps because of this, Russell was motivated to prove he could, and would thrive in the post-Durant era.

This is his team now, and he was going to set the NBA (and Twitter) on fire, one snarl-inducing dunk at a time. The NBA was an unwalled, unguarded, and unprepared village, and Russ was ready to burn it all down.

If this were a movie, upon learning of Durant’s departure, Russ would deadpan the camera and say “Now I do what I want.”