Russell Westbrook is though of highly of the greatest of the game. That does mean something sports fans.
Michael Jordan said it. I believe it. Sports fans, it is true. Russell Westbrook is the new Michael Jordan according to the great one. Kobe Bryant, if you want to know, also takes claim to Westbrook as many other will say. Who is the next Kobe? Russell Westbrook. The fact of the matter the true new face of the National Basketball Association will be that of Russell Westbrook, not LeBron James, Stephan Curry, or even Kevin Durant. The basketball world will come to recognize this when the 2016-2017 NBA season comes full circle. Westbrook will show the world that Jordan and Bryant are spot on.
In viewing a highlight film of Westbrook last week in Las Vegas during a promotional event for Russell’s new Air Jordan basketball shoes, Michael Jordan’s comments were telling.
“Thirty years ago, that’s me,” he said of the Oklahoma City superstar. “The attitude, trying to prove myself, showing so much passion for the game of basketball. You see it in his play. You can tell he loves the game, he plays with energy and flair.”
Westbrook’s response honorable toward the greatest.
“That’s crazy,” he told Russ Bingston of Complex Sports during an interview. “I really don’t know what to say. To have the best player who ever played the game to say that about you as a player and as a person is something that is going to keep me striving.”
Michael Jordan was older than Russell is today when he won his first NBA title. Yes, without another superstar next to him, OKC takes a hit on a title chance in 2016-2017. But do not sell the next Michael Jordan short. His winning edge runs high and he is now coming into his best years of his career. Nothing in the Association is guaranteed. One injury here, one player pick-up there, a team can find itself in the NBA Finals staring down a title.
With the next two years in OKC for Westbrook, Thunder General Manager has time to make the roster, a winning one currently, that much better. A championship team. And a maximum contract for Westbrook in OKC now available in the summer of 2018, giving him the richest one in the history of the league, could allow Mr. Thunder to play in the Peak on Reno Street through his 15th season. That is a career of a Kobe in Los Angeles. Not too shabby for the next “Kobe Jordan” in the Association.
