Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison reach milestones
By Alex Mcewen
The OKC Thunder are in their 10th season. This week Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison, the only two players remaining from the inaugural team reached milestones.
The OKC Thunder and Russell Westbrook have come a long way since their inaugural season where they went 23-59. For example, Westbrook had only one triple-double that season.
But, it was a memorable one because it was his first of many, many more to follow. Westbrook now has 100 total triple-doubles. Only four players in NBA history have reached such a feat.
Westbrook joins the short list of Oscar Robertson (181), Magic Johnson (138), Jason Kidd (107), and now Westbrook (100).
The OKC Thunder are 82-18 all-time when Russell Westbrook triple-doubles. Westbrook has only went one season where he did not record a triple-double the 2011-12 lockout shortened season.
Related: Top ten from Westbrook’s historic triple-double campaign
To put in perspective how astronomical this achievement truly is, I compiled a list of players whose cumulative triple-doubles equal Westbrook’s 100:
Marc Gasol (4), Jimmy Butler (4), Vince Cater (5), Pau Gasol (10), Kevin Durant (10), Steph Curry (7), Chris Paul (14), Dirk Nowitki (2), Giannis Antetokounmpo (9), DeMarcus Cousins (9), John Wall (7), Andre Iguodala (9), Carmelo Anthony (2), Paul George (2), Dwayne Wade (4), Anthony Davis (1), and Kyrie Irving (1) have 100 triple doubles combined.
The 17 above mentioned players have played in a combined 13,324 games. And, have garnered 111 All-Star selections.
*Games played and triple double stats only include games played through March 15th 2018
Russell Westbrook is not only out triple doubling his peers, but entire teams as well. According to ESPN Stats and Info Westbrook has more than double the amount of triple-doubles than every NBA team.
Since entering the league in 2008-09, Russell Westbrook has more than twice as many triple-doubles as any other FRANCHISE. He also has more than 23 of the other 29 active franchises do all-time.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 14, 2018
100 - Westbrook
44 - Cavaliers
42 - Rockets
35 - Warriors
32 - Celtics
Appreciating Mr. Thunder
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Along with Westbrook, Collison is the only remaining member from the original Thunder roster. Collison has been a reliable bench cog and fan favorite since day one.
(Update)
Initially when reviewing I thought Nick Collison was on the precipice of his 1,000th career game. As it turns out that includes regular season and playoff games. Collison has played in 908 regular season games, 999 including the postseason.
Never the less, playing in 900 regular season games is still impressive. Only 231 NBA players have appeared in 900 or more regular season games. What makes the feat even rarer is Collison has never made an All-Star team.
Furthermore, Collison became the 89th player in league history to play in 900 or more games without being selected to an All-Star team. Collison has played 14 seasons for the Thunder/SuperSonics.
It is feasible that this could be his last season, if that is the case the Thunder will be losing a solid veteran and franchise pillar.
If this is indeed Nick’s last year be sure to celebrate Mr. Thunder while you still can.
(Shout out to the reader of the site who brought my mistake to my attention. You can follow them on Twitter here)
Next: Deep Dive into the wild, wild, west - stretch schedule analysis
That’s it for me today Thunder Nation. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, have a solid and safe weekend.