When LeBron James and Steve Nash start waxing poetic about Russell Westbrook and Gilbert Arenas on Mind The Game, you know something legendary is going down. It’s like seeing Tim Duncan crack a smile — rare, confusing, and somehow deeply meaningful.

And this time, it wasn’t just appreciation. It was a full-on recalibration of how we view past eras of basketball, all sparked by two of the most electric guards to ever set foot on hardwood: Russ and Gil.

Let’s break it down like Westbrook attacking the rim in transition — full speed, no brakes. Steve Nash kicked things off by reflecting on Russ and Gil’s early days. In college, neither of them was seen as a “point guard” in the traditional sense. As Nash put it: “They weren’t playmakers. They were just great athletes trying to find themselves.”

That’s right. Westbrook at UCLA was basically a chaos agent in shorts. He wasn’t running pick-and-rolls like Chris Paul — he was breaking backboards and defenders’ ankles like it was his side hustle.

Even LeBron chimed in, pointing out how Russ didn’t even start over Darren Collison at first. Let that sink in. Russ was a bench guy. BENCH. GUY. But when he got on the court? “It was a missile,” LeBron said. “Every time Russ stepped on the court… oh, this guy’s special.”

Forget the triple-doubles for a second. That’s LeBron James using the word “missile.” You could almost hear Thunder fans weeping in the background.

Russell Westbrook: The Evolution Poster Child

See, Westbrook didn’t just play basketball. He treated every game like a Fast & Furious chase scene. You didn’t know where it was going, but you knew there’d be destruction, speed, and at least one explosion (probably a missed bank shot from 18 feet).

His NBA journey started with the Seattle SuperSonics, who then packed their bags and became the Oklahoma City Thunder. And from there? A straight-up rollercoaster: 2012 NBA Finals with Kevin Durant and James Harden. 2017 MVP season with 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists (aka video game numbers). 9 All-Star selections.

Oh, and did we mention he once averaged a triple-double across three straight seasons? That’s not basketball. That’s anime protagonist stuff.

After 11 years of turning OKC into Russ’ personal runway, the trade carousel began spinning: Traded to Houston to reunite with Harden — AKA Beard Bros Reloaded. Moved to Washington, where he nearly dragged Bradley Beal to therapy from carrying the whole offense. Traded to the Lakers to form a super team that… did not super. Landed in Utah for a cup of coffee, bought out. Then to the Clippers. Finally, to Denver in 2024.

Whew. That trade list reads like a Kanye tracklist — chaotic, ambitious, and somehow historic. Now with the Denver Nuggets, Westbrook took a major pay cut to chase the ring. His regular-season numbers? A respectable 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds. Not MVP-level, but enough to remind us he still had that “I dare you to guard me” energy.
Unfortunately, his shooting in the playoffs? Let’s just say it fell off harder than Dwight Howard’s relevance after The Office ended.

LeBron went full Hoop Philosopher Mode, comparing Russ and Gil to diamonds in the rough that wouldn’t have even gotten noticed back in the day: “We missed out on a Russell Westbrook back then… There wasn’t social media. There wasn’t YouTube… now? You can see it all.”

Imagine an 1980s coach trying to figure out what to do with Russell Westbrook. “This boy doesn’t run plays. He just runs.” It would’ve been like giving Allen Iverson to the 1950s. Nash, bless his Canadian heart, pulled out the VHS tape references, talking about how he’d copy post moves from random college players or even Patrick Ewing’s runner. That’s right. The guy famous for midrange bricks was Steve’s inspiration for finesse. Welcome to NBA evolution, where nothing makes sense and everything is somehow genius.

They even compared the league to a tech startup — evolving too fast for the casuals to keep up. Micro-adjustments. Data overload. Twitter takes from couch coaches. The whole system’s gone full Silicon Valley, and Russ? Russ is like the wild code that nobody can debug, but it works.

Let’s be honest — Russell Westbrook is not everyone’s cup of tea. He’s more like a double shot of espresso with a Red Bull chaser. But what you can’t say is that he didn’t leave a mark. In a league where everyone wants to be the next Curry or Jokic, Westbrook’s legacy is being the first, last, and only Russell Westbrook.

Russ broke the mold, made history, forced the King to admit the game’s evolved, and left us all wondering — what if more diamonds like him were never discovered?