50 Greatest NBA Players ever - 41 to 50 on our Best NBA Players list

#44 Russell Westbrook

Memphis Grizzlies v Oklahoma City Thunder

Career stats: 23.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.3 blocks per game

Shooting splits: 43.5% from the field, 31.1% from 3-point range, 81.4% on free throws

Accolades: 2016-17 NBA MVP, 7-time All Star, 2-time All-NBA First Teamer (2016, 2017), 5-time All-NBA Second Teamer (2011-2013, 2015, 2018), 2-time All-Star Game MVP (2015, 2016)

Records: 2 scoring titles (2014-15, 2016-17), 1 assist title (2017-18), the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double in 2 regular season campaigns

It irks me to have to sing praises for Russell Westbrook so early in this segment because he's undoubtedly better than some players placed before him, but I digress. There's a reason why an underdog who didn't start for his high school team until his junior year, who was 5'8" until that time and was never recruited by a D1 college team is now an MVP and a player who the rest of the world looks up to.

A kid born and brought up in the era which saw Iverson and Kobe will their teams to victory, night after night, Westbrook embodies the same mentality. He probably does it better than the other two guys I mentioned, honestly, because you can find stretches in both AI's and the Mamba's career, minutes when it looked like fatigue had gotten to them.

Not this kid. In the league today, Westbrook is about the best-conditioned athlete you can find. He gives it more than his all for the entire length of time that he steps on the court, and some of the plays he makes will just leave onlookers in awe of the anger, the menacing fury and the sheer will to win this guy displays.

Number 0 plays every game like it might be his last, and it shows on the box score in a manner that it's only shown on one other player's resume. Ever since Kevin Durant's decision to go to the Warriors as a free agent, Westbrook has been on a mission to put all his doubters and haters on the dock. He tallied 42 triple-doubles in a season to lead the Thunder to a 47-35 record and the 6th seed in the Western Conference when most people had them finishing out of their playoff brackets.

The triple-doubles came less often last season and Westbrook's shooting regressed in the first half, but he came back with a vengeance in the latter half and became the only player in league history to average a triple-double over 2 seasons.

Think about it - of all the physical specimens and dominant players that have played in the league over 71 seasons, Westbrook is the only one to do it over 2 seasons. The only other guy to do it over one season, Oscar Robertson, did it when there were over 250 possessions per game.

Westbrook is here to stay, whether he wows you or whether he makes you want to cringe all the way out of your living room watching him play. You'd better look out for the Brodie straight up taking a dump all over your favorite team, though.