Russell Westbrook recently revealed that he was battling a torn quad at the start of this season. This tenacity is pretty much the norm for him.
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The Brody is well and truly in contention as the NBA’s most athletic player of all time. His endurance, speed, hops, athletic longevity, energy levels and intensity truly is something else.
The man dives after loose balls like a matter of life and death. Russ looks about as fresh in OT periods of games as he does during regulation time. The way that he’s able to maintain his intensity levels while pushing the break on every possession is truly something to marvel.
Russell Westbrook plays through sprains, tears & crushed faces. He races teammates to practice. He turns apple Snapple into life lessons. If you park in his spot, he gets the last laugh.
On the new triple-double king, the most competitive man in the room: https://t.co/aO4NKlAb0E pic.twitter.com/kFkRugkydM
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) May 13, 2021
We’ve all only seen injury-riddled versions of Westbrook through the last 4 seasons for the most part. Tons of new fans, therefore, missed out on the electric play he brought to the court through the first 9 seasons of his career.
Russell Westbrook did not miss a game for 10 straight years
The Brody is now known for his triple-doubles, but one of his biggest pluses early in his career was his availability. Westbrook did not miss a single regular season game through the first 5 years of his career.
In fact, Russ didn’t miss a single game in college or his final 3 years of high school either. This constitutes a run of 10 straight years without recording a DNP – injury for the 6’3″ combo guard.
It took Patrick Beverley clumsily bumping into his knee and him suffering a torn meniscus for Russell Westbrook to finally sit out of action. The Brody underwent 3 knee surgeries in the year after that, and he’s truly never been on that beastly athletic level again.
Westbrook has made more fast comebacks from injury than doctors have had hot lunches this past year. The man cannot bear to watch his teammates grind it out while he sits and chills on the sidelines. The Wizards have had to protect him from himself and force him to sit back-to-backs.
