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Russell Westbrook now sits on the brink of breaking Oscar Robertson’s nearly 50-year-old record for most triple-doubles in NBA history. In a heroic performance in an overtime win over the Pacers on Saturday night, Westbrook totaled 33 points, 19 rebounds and 15 assists, the 181st game of his career with at least 10 points, 10 rebound and 10 assists. The Wizards point guard will take his first shot at sole possession of the record Monday night in Atlanta.
Westbrook’s ownership of the record is no longer a matter of if, but when. And while that inevitability seems to have dominated discussion of Westbrook’s play for years, it’s worth remembering just how far-fetched it seemed – only five years ago – that a player could surpass Robertson’s longtime record.
Entering the 2016-17 season, Westbrook was eight years into his NBA career and had “only” 37 triple-doubles to his name. He’d just averaged double-digit assists for the first time in his career and helped lead the Thunder to a Western Conference Finals appearance. He’d not yet broken the top five on the all-time list and trailed second-place Magic Johnson by over 100 triple-doubles, who trailed Robertson by another 43. There was no good reason to assume the record would ever be touched.
Then, on October 28, 2016, in Oklahoma City’s home opener and second overall game of the season, Westbrook totaled 51 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a three-point win over the Suns. The next night: 33 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists in a win over the Lakers. The NBA world didn’t know it yet, but the chase was on.
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Westbrook has totaled 144 of his 181 triple-doubles.
During the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, Westbrook registered 42, 25 and 34 triple-doubles, respectively, and averaged a triple-double all three years. Leading up to the 2019-20 season, Westbrook was traded from Oklahoma City, his 11-year NBA home, to Houston. He averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists and helped guide the Rockets to the second round of the postseason, but totaled “only” eight triple-doubles in 57 regular season games.
Then this season happened. After Washington acquired the former MVP point guard from Houston just weeks before the start of the season, Westbrook opened the 2020-21 campaign with triple-doubles in each of his first four games. As he battled through a quad injury, Westbrook missed four games and went a month without recording another triple-double. He recorded his fifth of the season on February 2 against Portland. Two weeks later, against his former Rockets team, he totaled 16 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists in a 12-point win, his sixth triple-double of the season – and the floodgates opened. That performance was his first of a nearly three-month stretch in which Westbrook has recorded 30 triple-doubles in 44 games, averaged over 22.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 12.0 assists per game and helped turn the Wizards’ season around.
Westbrook has 35 triple-doubles this season, the third-most in a single season in NBA history, and now owns three of the top four single-season triple-double totals ever. Had the 2020-21 season been played at a normal 82-game length, Westbrook likely would have had a shot at his single-season record set in 2016-17 (42).
Westbrook was touched by Robertson’s words.
“When you’re in this position and you get mentioned with the greats like Oscar – not just that, but they compliment things you do for the game, it’s truly an honor, man,” Westbrook said. “It’s something that, honestly, I do not take for granted because Oscar is somebody that did more for the game, that played in the era where it was tough being an African American athlete in our game and he understood and sacrificed so many things to be able to play the game and I understand that. To me, I’m just grateful to be in the conversation with his name connected, my name connected to his. I’m grateful for his thoughtful words.”
Wizards head coach Scott Brooks, who coached Westbrook in Oklahoma City through the 2014-15 season, has watched Westbrook grow from an unrefined rookie out of UCLA in 2008 to “the second-best point guard in NBA history,” as he put it after Westbrook totaled 14 points, 21 rebounds and 24 assists in a win over the Pacers on May 3.
“He’s one of the biggest winners I have ever been around, on and off the court,” Brooks said earlier this season. “He adds so much value to our team. Dealing with what we’ve all been through, I couldn’t ask for a better guy to lead us and he has – and it hasn’t been easy…He cares, he wants to win, he wants our players to do well, he wants to establish a culture of professionalism on and off the court and he demands it.”
Ish Smith, like Brooks, has now spent time with Westbrook in both Oklahoma City and D.C.
“The beautiful thing about it is, his triple-doubles, they come in wins,” Smith said. “A lot of people think whatever they think and feel whatever they feel. You look at the win percentage when he gets those triple-doubles and we win.”
Over the course of his career, Westbrook’s teams are 136-45 when he records a triple-double. The Wizards are 21-14 in his 35 games with a triple-double this season and have seen their level of play spike substantially since Westbrook began his run in February.
Through his first season in Washington, Westbrook has been everything the team could have hoped for and more. He’s fought through injury, provided constant on- and off-court leadership and helped pull the Wizards out of an early season rut. As he nears ownership of the triple-double record and the Wizards begin to draw national attention for their late-season surge, Westbrook has mostly avoided comment on the stat lines and milestones, instead staying true to what got him to this point: an unwavering focus on making his team better in any way possible.
“I take pride, like I say every single night, in leaving it all on the floor,” Westbrook said. “I honestly believe there is no player like myself. If people want to take it for granted, sorry for them. I’m pretty sure if everybody could do it, they would do it. I honestly make sure I impact the game in many ways every night, defending rebounding, passing, assisting, whatever it is that my team needs from me to be able to win.”