Born in Long Beach, California, Russell Westbrook was already a star in the making at such an early age in his life. He attended Leuzinger High School where he was criticized for being short: the main reason why he did not get a college recruiting letter early in his high school days. But as a senior, he grew up to 6 foot 3 inches and, in the same year, he averaged 25.1 points per game, 8.7 Rebounds Per Game, 3.1 steals per game and 2.3 Assists Per Game. He had 14 double-doubles and scored 51 points in January 2006 against Carson. Later on, Westbrook was invited to the play for the UCLA Bruins, where he played for two seasons.
During his second season, he averaged 12.7 points per game, 4.3 assists per game, 3.9 rebounds per game and 1.6 steals per game, later that year he was awarded the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. From there on he continued his basketball journey to the NBA.
Oklahoma City Thunder
In the 2008 NBA draft, Russell Westbrook was drafted 4th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly Seattle Supersonics). In his rookie career he averaged, 15.3 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game, he also recorded a triple-double on his rookie season in March. He did not win the Rookie of the Year award that year, he only finished 4th with Derrick Rose winning the award.
The Oklahoma City Thunder made the playoffs that year but was knocked out be the Los Angeles Lakers, who later on won the NBA Championship.
From supporting cast to averaging a triple-double
Oklahoma was playing pretty well with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden as their core, but after making the playoffs they always fell short in winning the NBA championship, they reached the finals once but was quickly swept by the LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Time passed by, James Harden went to the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma blew a 3-1 lead against the Golden State Warriors and Kevin Durant left for Golden State the year after. To everyone's surprise, Westbrook signed another max deal with the Thunder despite losing Ibaka and Durant that year. He took the challenge of taking control of the team and he surely did not disappoint.
Westbrook averaged a triple-double last season (first since 1962), 31.6 points per game, 10.7 rebounds per game, 10.4 assists per game. Despite losing talents during the off-season, Westbrook helped the Thunder make the playoffs. It was a pretty close fight for the NBA MVP, with both Kawhi Leonard and James Harden putting up record breaking numbers but I guess averaging a triple-double is enough for winning the NBA League MVP.
