Why Russell Westbrook Already Belongs in the NBA MVP Conversation

Russell Westbrook's player stock undergoes transformations almost yearly, having been underestimated and overstated, revered and rebuked, defended and dismembered.

Never before, though, has his individual value experienced a metamorphosis quite like this.

Mere games into his return from a broken wrist, Westbrook has firmly entrenched himself inside a conversation to which he has never belonged. Now, rather swiftly, past doubts and stereotypes are bending to a new, jutting, spellbinding reality: The Oklahoma City Thunder—not to mention the NBA itself—have another MVP contender to tout.

Statistical Superhero

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Up until now, MVP candidacy has been a forbidden concept with regard to Westbrook. He was—and remains—erratic and emotional. With exception to past winners like Kobe Bryant (2007-08) and Allen Iverson (2000-01), the honor has often been awarded to pillars of stability.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash—each of these recipients, three of them recurring victors, championed a certain level of poise and polish Westbrook has routinely lacked. That he's played beside Durant, a model NBA citizen despite flagrant self-campaigning efforts attesting otherwise, hasn't helped either.

But for the first time in almost seven years, the holes in Westbrook's game—both its etiquette and execution—are nigh impossible to find and even harder to exploit upon realization. 

Through 11 games of action, the explosive point guard is averaging an eyes-extracting 26.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.9 steals on 49.5 percent shooting. Only his assist average would fail to set or match a career high.

Allow us, then, to list NBA players who have maintained 26/5.5/6.5/1.5/49.5 benchmarks for an entire season:

• Larry Bird (two times)
• LeBron James (three times)
• Michael Jordan
• Dwyane Wade 

That's it.

It's impossible to avoid MVP chatter when existing among such esteemed company. James, in fact, won an MVP award in each of those three hallmark seasons. Bird, meanwhile, nabbed the honor on one of those two occasions.

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Not that Westbrook cares.

“I mean, I’m not worried about it, man,” Westbrook said of his MVP chances, per The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry. “I don’t know the last time I won an award. I don’t worry about any awards."

Nor should he. But the attention is something he'll need to accept because it's not going anywhere.

This is the most potent version of Westbrook we've ever seen. He's shooting north of 33 percent from deep for the first time, posting the highest assist rate (51.4) of anyone to appear in at least 10 games and grabbing 10.8 percent of available rebounds when on the floor, the ninth-best mark among all guards.

Oh, and his player efficiency rating is pretty darn high (34.5) too.

Like, the highest ever. For now.

Small sample sizes are in themselves colossal caveats. Westbrook's 2014-15 display has yet to qualify him for the PER leaderboard, so its soaring status is both fluid and perhaps unsustainable.

But Westbrook is also 26 years old. Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan and James were between 24 and 28 when registering above-30 PERs. If there were ever a time for Westbrook's individual efficiency standing to skyrocket, it's now in the prime of his career, when he's proved dynamic on both ends of the floor while expanding his offensive range.

The impact his performance is having on the Thunder has been particularly incredible. They're 8-1 since his return, on the brink of re-entering the Western Conference's playoff picture and scoring an insane 112.7 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, the equivalent of the league's fourth-best attack.

Even their third-ranked defense has been better with him. The Thunder allow just 99.7 points per 100 possessions when he's in the game, which would give them the NBA's second-most efficient attack.

Opposing point guards haven't stood a chance against him. Westbrook is limiting rival scorers to 40 percent shooting overall, but his positional counterparts have devolved into non-factors since his return.

Sam Amick of USA Today explains:

"

In the past nine games since Westbrook returned, he has held opposing point guards to 31.2% shooting from the field (34-109 FGs). Seven of those nine opposing point guards were held below their season averages, the latest being the Kings' Darren Collison (six points on two-of-eight shooting; nearly 10 points fewer than his season average). The list of Westbrook victims is growing by the day: New Orleans' Jrue Holiday missed 11 of 17 shots against him on Dec. 2; Philadelphia's Michael Carter-Williams was 6-of-19 three days later; the Detroit Pistons' Brandon Jennings and the Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Knight were held to single digits in the week that followed; Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Kyrie Irving misfired on 14 of 21 attempts not long after; the Phoenix Suns' Eric Bledsoe went 4-of-12.

"

There's also a chance Westbrook, much like Durant last season, contends for a scoring title amid all this. His 26.4 points per game lead the league, a baseline that isn't necessarily the byproduct of brevity.

Westbrook's usage rate is climbing once again, just like it has every season since he was a sophomore. Roughly 39 percent of the Thunder's plays run through him—a level of dependence that, if it holds, will go down as the highest in NBA history.

Only once has a player recorded a usage rate above 35 and averaged under 25 points per game. That player was a 38-year-old Jordan working on his last legs with the Washington Wizards.

Knowing Westbrook's usage rate hovered above 34 last season, the aforesaid touchstone isn't uncharted territory. If the Thunder keep milking him, keep riding him, he will score, perhaps becoming the first point guard since Iverson in 2004-05—or Tiny Archibald in 1972-73, depending how you view Iverson—to secure a point-piling crown.

Separation From Durant and Others

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Oklahoma City has long been Durant's stomping ground. Westbrook has subsequently been viewed as his sidekick—a superstar partner but an inferior one.

In light of Durant's injury and onset progression, Westbrook has put himself on equal footing with last year's MVP. Durant is still shooting better than 50 percent from the floor and pumping in 20-plus points while on a minutes cap, but it's Westbrook who leads the Thunder in points, assists, steals and, most importantly, win shares.

Not once since entering the NBA in 2008 has Westbrook topped his team in win shares. There's a strong chance that changes this season; Westbrook shares the lead with Serge Ibaka (2.2), who has appeared in more than twice as many games (25).

Impressive still is what that means for Westbrook's win shares per 48 minutes. He leads the league—including the superhuman Anthony Davis—with 0.326.

Pitted against some of the NBA's best it looks even more absurd:

Caveat incoming: Westbrook's current pace has him on track to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only other player to average at least 0.326 win shares per 48 minutes. His success thus far could, again, be a symptom of early-season boons.

Still, his stay at the top is not insignificant.

Five of the last six MVPs have led the league in win shares per 48 minutes. Maintaining his current spot puts Westbrook in prime position to not just be considered, but actually win the honor for which he's never come close to earning.

Definitiveness is not a luxury of early-season performances, to be sure. The MVP race will fluctuate over the coming weeks and months. Westbrook's spot on the ladder will change; it will ascend and descend then ascend again. And that's why there are already those preaching caution over epiphany.

"Westbrook is a shot of adrenaline, a voracious and primal force amid the more refined superstars of the modern NBA," writes Welcome to Loud City's Kevin Yeung. "He's fun in a way very few other players can even attempt to be these days. And if he's still shredding through the NBA after another month or two, then let's talk MVP."

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Waiting would indeed be the safe play and conventional course of action. But there is nothing safe or conventional about Westbrook's game—about the way he knives through defenses, razes rims, shakes defenders and pads stat lines. We have no choice but to concede the obvious.

“Oh, that would be amazing, man," Durant said of Westbrook's MVP chances, via Mayberry, "because he deserves it."

As of now, after gaining ground on the teammate he's trailed, after turning perpetual MVP challengers into peers or peons, he most certainly does.

*Stats via Basketball-Reference and NBA.com are accurate as of games played Dec. 16, 2014.

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