Russell Westbrook could make All-Star Game history Sunday night
As Russell Westbrook puts his historic 2016-17 campaign on hold for NBA All-Star Weekend, the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard could still find himself rewriting the record books on Sunday night in New Orleans.
Westbrook, who took home All-Star Game MVPs in 2015 and '16, could become the first player in league history to win the award three times in a row.
Westbrook scored 41 points (on 16-of-28 shooting) and grabbed five rebounds in 2015 and scored 31 points (on 12-of-23 shooting) to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and five steals in 2016. He became just the second player to ever win back-to-back All-Star Game MVPs, joining Hall of Famer Bob Pettit (1958, shared with Elgin Baylor in 1959).
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Coming as no surprise, Westbrook, who's on pace to join Oscar Robertson as the only players in league history to average a triple-double throughout an entire season, is the favorite to hoist Sunday night's award (+350), according to Bovada, followed by Anthony Davis (+600), Stephen Curry, James Harden and Kevin Durant (all +700).