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Karl-Anthony Towns: Lakers' Russell Westbrook Chases Stats; 'He Tries to Do Too Much'
December 27, 2021
Karl-Anthony Towns said he plays basketball to win games, not for what it'll say on the stat sheet.
Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, is a stat-chaser, according to Towns.
“He definitely gets stats,” Towns said in an interview with streamer Adin Ross on Monday. “He chases stats. But I think he’s a hell of a player, though. I don’t care what anyone says—you know how hard it is to get a triple-double? You know how hard it is? And he play hella hard. I just think that sometimes he plays too quick. He tries to do too much.”
Westbrook is the NBA's all-time leader in triple-doubles with 190, and he's the only player in league history to average a triple-double in multiple seasons, doing so four times. While his propensity for filling up the stat sheet has him locked in as a future Hall of Famer, it hasn't always translated to deep playoff runs.
Westbrook has not gotten past the second round of the playoffs since Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City after the 2015-16 season.
That being said, even Westbrook's stat-hungriest performance has led to more consistent winning results than Towns in Minnesota. The Wolves have made the playoffs just once in his career.
Once Westbrook catches wind of Towns' comments, it would be very fair of him to point at their respective career scoreboards.
