OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 4, 2018 – The NBA today announced that Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook has been named Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in December. This marks the eighth time Westbrook has earned this award and the 21st time a Thunder player has received the honor.
The reigning NBA MVP led Oklahoma City to a 12-5 record in December, third-best in the league, while averaging a triple-double of 27.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 10.6 assists. He also accumulated the most points (472), assists (181) and steals (31) of any NBA player last month while holding the highest assist percentage (.497) and most fast break points per game (5.8).
Westbrook reached several milestones over the month of December. In the Thunder’s victory over the Jazz on Dec. 5, he blocked his 200th shot, setting himself apart as the only player in the history of the NBA with at least 200 blocks, 5,000 rebounds and 15,000 points within his first 700 games. In the Dec. 13 win over Indiana, the UCLA product tallied his 35th triple-double of 2017, passing Oscar Robertson for the most triple-doubles in a calendar year before finishing the year with a total of 38. In OKC’s Christmas Day triumph over Houston, Westbrook snagged three steals to tie Scottie Pippen for the most steals on Christmas with 24. In the Dec. 27 victory over Toronto, the six-time All Star passed Kevin Durant’s 15,942 points to become the leading scorer in Thunder history.
This season, Westbrook leads the league in assists per game (10.1) and loose balls recovered per game (1.9) while holding averages that rank second in steals (2.00), fourth in deflections (3.4), 11th in points (24.7) and 14th in rebounds (9.5).
The reigning NBA scoring champion graces the league’s career leaderboards as he holds the sixth-best scoring average among active players with 22.8 points per game. Westbrook also has the second-best career usage rating in NBA history (32.67) behind Michael Jordan and the fourth-best career assist percentage (.420). The two-time NBA All Star MVP holds the fifth-highest career average for steals per game (1.74) among active players as well.