Russell Westbrook looked like he wasn’t going to be on an NBA roster as the offseason wound down and opening day loomed. Then, the Sacramento Kings swooped in and finally gave Russ another chance.
Westbrook has been making the most out of this new lease on NBA life, playing in all eight Sacramento games so far and putting up 15.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.4 steals. On Thursday, he even reminded fans and pundits that this much-maligned King is the triple-double king when he finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists to lead SacTown to a 121-116 win over the Golden State Warriors.
That triple-double is the 204th of Westbrook’s career and adds to his all-time record in that distinguished statistical category.
Westbrook Makes More History
Extending his all-time triple-double lead isn’t the only milestone Westbrook set against the Warriors. With his 16 boards, he also surpassed Jason Kidd for most rebounds all-time by a guard. After Thursday’s outing, Westbrook now has 8,734 rebounds to Kidd’s 8,725.
After the game, Russ reiterated the obvious with a kind of humble brag, telling reporters, “Humbly speaking, I’m the best rebounding guard ever.”
Statistically speaking, Westbrook has a very strong case to support that claim, as his 8,734 sits atop the all-time list now. His 7.0 rebounds per game over the course of his career so far would also put him third all-time in terms of average, trailing only the 6-foot-5 Oscar Robertson (7.5) and the 6-foot-9 Magic Johnson (7.3).
With the way he’s been playing, don’t be surprised if he pushes his career total in rebounding to nearly unreachable levels. Expect a few more triple-doubles to—just to make it harder for the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic to catch his mark this season.
