The triple-double kings in history have fallen to the point where no one cares about it. Why did Westbrook fall to the point where he is today?

On July 11, in the NBA's history scroll, Russell Westbrook's name was engraved on the monument of the "Triple Double Kings". In the 2016-17 season, the point guard wearing the Thunder Blue Orange jersey became the second player to average triple-double in a single season after Oscar Robertson, and won the regular season MVP with an epic performance of 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game. Westbrook at that time was the totem of Oklahoma City and a synonym for violent aesthetics. Every breakthrough was like a cannonball, and every rebound was domineering like no other than me. Who would have thought that in just seven years, this historical triple-double king (198 regular season triple-double) will open in the free market for many days and remain unattended, becoming the league's most regrettable wandering legend.

Westbrook's career turning point began in the summer of 2019. When Paul George suddenly applied for a deal to go to the Clippers, the Thunder management decided to completely rebuild and send the team spirit he had played for 11 years to Houston. The decision seemed a win-win at the time - Westbrook was able to reunite with former Thunder teammate James Harden, and the Thunder received a large number of draft picks. But fate lays the groundwork here: this transfer started Westbrook's wandering career of replacing six teams for five consecutive years, setting a rare high-frequency flow record for NBA superstars. In the Rockets, his "double MVP backcourt" with Harden ended in just one year due to the issue of ball rights distribution; in the Wizards, although he once again averaged triple-double in the season with 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 11.7 assists, it could not prevent the team from being eliminated in the first round; in the Lakers, his "360 combination" composed of LeBron James and Anthony Davis became a disastrous experiment, with an average of 18.5 points per game hitting a new low since the rookie season. The Jazz buyout incident in February 2023 can be called the Waterloo of Westbrook's career. After being traded to the Jazz by the Lakers, the former superstar actually faced the dilemma of no ball to play. In the end, the Clippers made a bargain with a basic salary of US$780,000, which was less than 1.7% of their peak annual salary (47 million). What's more ironic is that when Westbrook fought against the Suns in the first round of the Clippers' playoffs, G1's 9 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, G3's 30 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, the team won 21 points when he left the court. This data comparison of "winning is not scary, and who is missing is embarrassing" completely exposed the fatal conflict between contemporary basketball's strict requirements for space-type point guards and Westbrook's technical shortcomings.

Deeply analyze the technical roots of Westbrook's fall, and the three-point projection has always been the Achilles heel that restricts its development. A career-long shooting rate of 34.3% is like sailing against the current in a modern basketball system that emphasizes space efficiency. In the 2022-23 season, Westbrook's three-point shooting percentage plummeted to 29.8% when his opponent allowed his outside shooting in the playoffs. What's even more fatal is his defensive habits. As he gets older, he is increasingly likely to lose his defensive position by relying on explosive gambling steals. The real positive and negative values ​​of ESPN defense show that its defensive efficiency ranks 20% of the point guard's bottom three consecutive seasons. These flaws are infinitely amplified in high-intensity playoff confrontations, making it difficult for any team that is determined to compete for the championship to include it in the core rotation.

But Westbrook's story is far from a simple "hero's late" to summarize. In the transformation attempts during the Clippers' period, we can still see the stubborn figure of this nine-time All-Star. After actively accepting the role of substitute, his average assists per game (7.6 times) hit a career substitute high, and his review of the second lineup showed the wisdom of the veteran. In the first round of the playoffs, when Leonard and George were both absent, Westbrook used his 37-point, 6 rebounds and 4 assists to remind the world that there is fuel in the fuel tank. This kind of tragic "doing it even though you know you can't do it" is just like his eternal high chin and never retreating eyes, forming one of the most impactful sports narratives of this era.

The free market has been opened for more than half a month, and the salary space of each team is almost saturated, and the situation facing Westbrook is even more serious than last year. The Nuggets, Heat and other potential next players have signed other point guards one after another, and even the old team, the Clippers, are actively pursuing Chris Paul. A Western Conference scout revealed anonymously: "All teams that need point guards are asking the same question - can we bear the cost of Westbrook being slapped at a critical moment? "This collective hesitation not only reflects the players' personal technical limitations, but also the ruthless elimination of traditional impact guards by the history of NBA tactical evolution. Westbrook's partner in the Thunder, Kevin Durant, had long transformed into a god of death without resolving, and Harden also cultivated his top organizational ability. Only he still adheres to the 2000s-style violent aesthetic, just like the last classical Cavalier in the basketball world.

Looking back at the 35-year-old life node, the parabolic trajectory of Westbrook's career reflects the cruel laws of professional sports. From Mr. WHY NOT in Oxford to the Alliance Wanderer, his story is far from a simple lesson like "adapting to the times" and is about the price of a genius sticking to himself. Those triple-double records that shook the past and the present, those dunks that threw their bodies into the air, and those playoff legends fighting with black masks will eventually be frozen in memory as the purest basketball passion. As he said after he was eliminated in the 2023 playoffs: "I will always choose to fight, not calculate probability." This almost paranoid competitive spirit may be the most scarce treasure in the contemporary NBA, even if it is becoming the tears of the times at a speed visible to the naked eye.