Known as a relentless rim attacker, Russell Westbrook hit the craziest shot to move into the top 20 scorers of all time. He has made a career of driving to the rim and playing hard every single second of every single game. Westbrook is a career 30% shooter from behind the arc. Yet, to get into the top 20 scorers of all time, he hit a shot we rarely see him take.
Russell Westbrook Hits the Craziest Shot for Career Achievement
In the last game against the Chicago Bulls, Westbrook hit a three-pointer from the logo. Those are shots that Steph Curry, Trae Young, and Damian Lillard make. Curry is famous for making the logo three-pointer a regular shot. Yet, Westbrook hitting that? Now that is a crazy thought. It is crazy to think that Westbrook made it to the top 20 scorers All-Time by hitting a shot from more than 40 feet.
Russell Westbrook Career Three-Pointers
Taking a look at Westbrook’s career, only about 14% of his made field goals are three-pointers. Yes, more than 20% of his attempts are from behind the arc. But he has never been known as a three-point shooter. This year, however, he is having his second-best season in terms of three-point efficiency. Westbrook converts threes at a 33.9% rate, second only to his MVP season in 2016-17. That year, he was the leading scorer and shot 34.3% from three.
Russell Westbrook Among Top 20 Scorers: How High Can He Get?
Now that Westbrook is in the top 20 scorers of all time, the question is how high he can climb. It is not out of the realm of possibility for him to climb to the top 15 or top 12 when it is all said and done. However, he will also probably lose a spot to Steph Curry. The Warriors guard is less than 900 points behind him, and right now, Curry scores more than Westbrook.
Last season, Westbrook had 754 total points. This year, he is at 872 right now, he hasn’t scored 1,000+ points since the 2022-23 season. To be more precise, he hasn’t scored 1,500+ points since the 2019-20 season. Whatever the case, he has found his role in Denver, and if he remains with the team, he can climb up.
Right now, James Harden is 11th with 27,416 points. Westbrook is 300 points behind John Havlicek for the 19th spot. With his current pace of scoring, he probably will not pass him this season. If he scores 800+ points next season as well, he might climb as high as the top 15 at some point during the season.
Westbrook’s Legacy
Russell needs less than 700 points to pass Oscar Robertson on the top 20 scorers of all-time list. That would make him the highest-scoring point guard. We can exclude James Harden, who has played both shooting guard and point guard. Curry will probably end up with the title since he already has 25,117 points. Given that Curry scores more than both Harden and Westbrook right now, he might pass them both.
Westbrook is also the leader in triple-doubles in league history with 203. Nikola Jokic, his teammate in Denver, might eventually pass him. The three-time MVP has 159, but he routinely gets triple-doubles. The only thing missing in Westbrook’s career is a championship ring. With that, he will surely be among the top five point guards of all time. Without a ring, it is debated whether he belongs there or not.
Photo credit: © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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