As the NBA season nears the halfway mark, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook stands on the brink of one of the most unprecedented seasons in league history.

With the heart-wrenching departure of Golden State Warrior forward Kevin Durant, Westbrook has taken control of the team and flourished in his newfound leadership role. As it stands, Westbrook has put up an incredible stat line of 30.7 points per game, 10.5 rebounds per game and 10.3 assists per game. 

Those stats are no typo. Westbrook is averaging an insane triple-double over the first 44 games of the season. Of those 44, Westbrook has 20 triple-doubles which places him tied for fifth all-time in a single season. Westbrook has already passed Cleveland Cavaliers power forward LeBron James in the all-time list, taking 58 triple-doubles in only nine years. Westbrook is on pace to pass Larry Bird and could overcome the great Wilt Chamberlain if he ratchets up his pace. At his current pace, Westbrook is geared to throw down 37 triple-doubles, a feat which would fall just short of the all-time single-season record of 41 set by Oscar Robertson in 1962. 

Westbrook is grabbing boards at a ferocious pace, placing him in 11th place in the league. The next guard to hit the list is Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden in the 22nd slot, while the next point guard is Chicago Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo, who is tied for 59th. With his aggressive play, Westbrook is able to beat even the tallest players down low.

His attack-mode style with rebounds flows over to his scoring tactics, directly enhancing his points average. In terms of points per game, Westbrook is leading the league and outmatching the scoring machines Durant, Harden and Golden State Warrior point guard Stephen Curry. Since the turn of the decade, only two scoring champions have averaged more than 30 points per game, and only one, Durant, has scored more than Westbrook’s current 30.7. With Durant no longer holding him back, Westbrook has been able to control the tempo of the game and take a career-high 23.6 shots per game, including 6.3 three-point shots per game. His trigger-happy strategy has paid off big time, though some look to his meager .423 shooting percentage and say otherwise. Despite such criticism, Westbrook has surely been the league’s most prolific scorer in an era of diminished scoring. 

Westbrook’s numbers seem not to have impressed the NBA fanbase, as Westbrook was snubbed this past weekend in the All-Star voting. Westbrook was outvoted by the fans, who voted for Curry and Harden as the two top guard spots. Curry and Harden lag Westbrook in each of the major statistical categories besides assists, in which Harden leads Westbrook by one per game. Fan voting has been a major issue in the past, a problem which the NBA has addressed this year with a weighted voting system. Current players and media make up the other 50 percent of votes; however, even this system seems not to have solved the problem.  

Despite his performance, Westbrook’s team is lagging in the standings. In seventh place in the conference, the Thunder are beginning to miss the presence of Durant. Durant gave up scoring for a title and his risky move seems to be paying off in real terms, leaving Westbrook and the Thunder to battle it out in the depths of the standings. With another half to come, Westbrook still has time to prove Durant wrong and show that statistics and titles are not mutually exclusive.