Russell Westbrook is playing the best basketball of his career, and the Oklahoma City Thunder guard could very well end up winning the NBA MVP Award when the season is finished. Just don’t ask him about it.
With Kevin Durant out nursing an injury, Westbrook has regularly recorded triple-doubles over the past month. Before Monday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, a reporter asked Westbrook about his place in the MVP discussion.
“I have no take on it,” he said, per ESPN.com’s Royce Young. “My job is to come out man, and play at a high level every single night and that’s what I’ve been doing. Honestly (having my name in the MVP discussion) don’t really matter to me.”
Westbrook certainly has been playing at a high level. He’s averaging a league-leading 27.5 points per game and is fourth in the NBA in assists with 8.4 per game. Westbrook has scored 40 or more points in eight different games this season.
The four-time All-Star was then asked if Durant has given him any advice about potentially winning an MVP.
“No,” Westbrook replied.
And just to confirm that he was annoyed with the line of questioning, Westbrook was then asked who he thinks the MVP favorite would be if he was taken out of the equation.
“Uh, you,” he told the reporter.
Westbrook dislikes dealing with the media, so you can understand why he has no interest in discussing the MVP race when his team is clinging to the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The most impressive thing about his recent run of success is that he did it after getting his cheek dented in by a knee, and Westbrook only missed one game. If the season ended today, he’d have my vote for MVP.
