Russell Westbrook Unhappily Accepts The Scoring Title

For Russell Westbrook, winning the NBA scoring title was bittersweet, as his Thunders were knocked out of the playoffs by the New Orleans Pelicans’ victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Still, he finished the season with 28.1 PPG and the nearest player behind him was James Harden with 27.4.

When asked about what the scoring title means to him, Westbrook was obviously unhappy, as it was the first time Oklahoma city has missed the playoffs since 2008-9. “[It means] sh*t,” Russell told ESPN. “It doesn’t mean nothing. Good job. Hooray. I’m at home. Watching other teams play. Doesn’t mean nothing.”

For now, Westbrook should be happy with what he was able to accomplish. Plenty of people thought that the Thunder had no chance without Durant. And Russell dispelled that notion throughout the rest of the season, marginally missing a playoff spot. Out of all the MVP candidates, he is the only one being talked about from a non-playoff team and his numbers reflect why: 28.1 PPG, 8.6 APG and 7.1 RPG, which were all career highs.

As for the scoring title, this is the first one of Westbrook’s career: his teammate Kevin Durant was the previous winner and has won it four out of the last six seasons. Still, this is probably not going to propel Russell in the MVP race, as it is likely down to James Harden and Stephen Curry.