Russell Westbrook stands alone as the triple-double king

Over the past few years, Russell Westbrook has been called many things. You can't win with him on your team, he's a stat padder, etc. I agree his contract is egregious and it's hard to build a team when one player takes up over $40 million in cap space. With all that being said, it seems like people forget how hard it is to consistently record triple-doubles night in and night out. To average a triple-double  four out of the last five seasons is absolutely insane. Like Russ said earlier this year, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Just look at this stat.

Westbrook has more triple-doubles than all those Hall-of-Famers combined. He broke Oscar Robertson's record that hasn't been touched in 47 years. When Russ first averaged a triple-double in his MVP season, people were amazed. Part of that also has to do with KD leaving OKC for Golden State. Once he started to do it over and over again, it became normal for people. Since he wasn't winning in the playoffs on a bad Thunder team, everyone immediately pointed fingers saying he's stat padding. When something gets done year after year, people are going to stop caring if you're not winning. He somehow made triple-doubles not cool anymore for a lot of NBA fans. I bet there are NBA trolls that will comment on how he missed the game-winner last night.

One thing I respect about Westbrook is how hard he plays. In an era where stars sit games out and play half-assed defense for the majority of the regular season, it's refreshing to see a guy of Westbrook's caliber leave it all on the line. He plays every game like it's the playoffs. He's the definition of "all gas, no breaks".

So congrats to Russ. Maybe he starts getting more love again. Enjoy it while you can. He's only 32 and going to keep adding onto this record. A record that might not be broken for a long time.