Russell Westbrook has found a gentle landing in his rollercoaster career

The NBA is nothing if not chaotic. I often liken it to reality television — where drama reigns supreme, and I can’t help but be drawn to its most outlandish players.

Few characters have been more intriguing to watch than Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook. After spending his first 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the veteran point guard has been on five different teams in the last six years.

Undoubtedly one of the greatest talents the league has ever seen, Westbrook is a nine-time NBA All-Star and former league MVP. On the flipside, he also received some of the harshest treatment of his career — to the tune of death threats and people harassing his family — while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Well into the back-half of his career, Westbrook is still excited to compete. And in his newfound role with the Nuggets, where he’s enjoying some of his best numbers in recent years, it seems like the Long Beach native has found a gentle landing after a rollercoaster of a career. 

For all of Westbrook’s pain, is he not deserving of a little joy? And possibly another shot at his first NBA championship?

I’ve been a Denver Nuggets fan for more than 20 years. While I fell in love with basketball watching early 2000s hoops in my Grandma Gwen’s basement, I never had a team to call my own until the Nuggets drafted Carmelo Anthony and graced the streets with their powder blue and gold jerseys, which are still my favorite to this day.

Anthony recently commented on Westbrook — the former beginning his NBA career in Denver while the latter might very well end his career in the Mile High City. Both had brief stints together on the Thunder and Lakers.

“What I see with Russ is somebody who believed in him,” Anthony shared on his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “Denver, [Nuggets head coach] Mike Malone still believes in Russ’s ability to go out there and perform.”

Anthony added, “I think Denver allowed him to be Russ… The minute they put him in that starting lineup, that showed me that they believed in him.”

Westbrook said as much in his press conference a little over a week earlier after the Nuggets’ win against the Brooklyn Nets where he and fellow MVP teammate, Nikola Jokic, both put up triple-doubles — becoming the first duo in NBA history to record triple-doubles in the same game in multiple games in a season.

Sharing what he remembered from a conversation Coach Malone had with him about his expectations of Westbrook ahead of the season, Westbrook said, “Coach is very honest with me on what he expected of me and what he wanted me to do, and, quite frankly, it’s to… be Russell Westbrook.”

He continued, “Being able to do that allows me to be able to make guys around me better.”

After a slow start to the season, the Denver Nuggets now have the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and have won 12 of their last 15 games. In that span, Westbrook is averaging 15.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game.

Not to mention, Westbrook looks like he’s having fun, recently joking with reporters after learning that Jokic’s 79% winning percentage when recording a triple-double is 5% higher than Westbrook’s. While it was tough for some to picture, this is the outcome many Nuggets fans hoped for and believed he still had in him.

I know I did. I have to think Jokic did, too.

When reports started coming out over the summer that Jokic was working behind the scenes to persuade the Denver Nuggets to sign Westbrook, I thought back to the day — April 9, 2017 — when Russ ruined Jokic’s sophomore season.

It was a brisk spring afternoon where, for most of the day, the clouds couldn’t stave off the Denver sun that shines more than 250 days per year. During the previous May, I moved to Colorado after living on the East Coast for most of my life. Only an hour from the Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena), I took advantage of any opportunity I got to see the Nuggets in person.

Not only did I witness something otherworldly that day, but Jokic did, too. He suited up for the opposing Nuggets as Westbrook closed out his MVP campaign with the Thunder by breaking Oscar Robertson’s record for the most triple-doubles in a season. If that wasn’t enough, Westbrook also scored 50 points on a last-second 3-pointer to spoil the Nuggets’ playoff chances. 

With each passing feat, we all stood to our feet — regardless of who we were rooting for — and celebrated Westbrook’s historic achievements. Eight years later, it’s nothing short of amazing to see Russ infect Denver with that same energy Nuggets fans had for him in 2017 even while he wrecked their hopes of a championship.

Now, Westbrook has us dreaming again — this time playing alongside the Serbian center. And their chemistry has Coach Malone calling Denver Nuggets games the “History Channel.” Their starting lineup now includes two of the three career leaders for triple-doubles in Westbrook (202) and Jokic (150). The duo has also assisted each other the second most in the NBA this season.

In Westbrook’s presser after the Nuggets’ Jan. 10 win over the Brooklyn Nets, a reporter commented on how the future Hall of Famer seems to play with “so much joy.” Agreeing with the reporter’s sentiment, Westbrook replied, “I would never let anyone take the joy away from me from playing basketball.”

The Denver Nuggets need some joy after last season — a year that included a playoff exit at the hands of Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Malone losing his father, Aaron Gordon losing his brother, and Michael Porter Jr. dealing with a slew of devastating family issues.

In his essay collection, Inciting Joy, author and poet Ross Gay writes, “What if joy and pain are fundamentally tangled up with one another?” He continues, “Or even more to the point, what if joy is not only entangled with pain, or suffering, or sorrow, but is also what emerges from how we care for each other through those things?”

Westbrook might just be the answer — a two-sided coin of joy and pain. He plays angry, his emotions seemingly carved into his face, yet he drives inside with the reckless abandon of a child. After all he’s endured, it’s no wonder he holds joy as closely as he does. It’s a reminder of what’s in his control even if the applause eventually stops.

And as I pray for another parade in the Mile High City, I hope the applause never stops.