Russell Westbrook didn't just play basketball in 2017. He went on a season-long rampage. It was the kind of year that felt like it was breaking the sport's physics engine. I remember watching those nightly highlights, seeing a guy who played with a level of pure, unadulterated rage that usually results in a technical foul within the first five minutes. Instead, he ended up with a trophy. But honestly, the mvp award nba 2017 race wasn't just about a guy averaging a triple-double; it was a philosophical war that changed how we talk about greatness in the modern era.
People forget how much tension there was back then. It wasn't just "Who is better?" It was "What do we actually value?" On one side, you had Westbrook, the lone wolf in Oklahoma City after Kevin Durant left for the 73-win Warriors. On the other, you had James Harden, who was orchestrating a Mike D'Antoni offense in Houston that was basically a math equation designed to destroy defenses.
The Triple-Double Obsession
For decades, Oscar Robertson’s 1961-62 season was the holy grail of "unbreakable" records. Nobody thought someone would ever average 30.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists again. It sounded impossible. Then Westbrook did it. He dragged a mediocre Thunder roster to 47 wins by sheer force of will.
But was it "winning" basketball? That was the big question.
Critics pointed to his usage rate, which was a staggering 41.7 percent—the highest in NBA history at that time. He had the ball all the time. Every possession started and ended with him. Some argued he was hunting rebounds, specifically defensive ones where his big men would box out just to let him grab the board and ignite the break. Whether that’s true or not, the impact was undeniable. When Russ got a triple-double that season, OKC went 33-9. When he didn't? They were 14-26. That’s not just stat-padding; that’s a guy being the entire lifeblood of a franchise.
James Harden and the Case for Efficiency
If you’re a fan of "The Process" or Daryl Morey’s brand of basketball, Harden was your MVP. He led the league in assists (11.2 per game) and put up 29.1 points of his own. The Rockets won 55 games, eight more than the Thunder. In the eyes of many traditionalists, winning matters most. If Harden is more efficient and his team is better, shouldn't he win?
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Harden’s 2016-17 season was a masterclass in the "heliocentric" offense. He accounted for over 2,000 points via his own scoring and over 2,000 points via his assists. He was the first player to ever do that. It was beautiful, frustrating, and devastatingly effective.
The argument for Harden was simple: He made his teammates better in a way Westbrook didn't. He created open threes for Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson. He turned Clint Capela into a pick-and-roll monster. Westbrook, meanwhile, was playing hero ball. But hero ball works when the hero is actually a superhero.
Kawhi and LeBron: The Forgotten Candidates
We shouldn't ignore the guys who finished third and fourth. Kawhi Leonard was the best two-way player on the planet that year. He led the Spurs to 61 wins while playing elite defense and scoring 25.5 a night. He was the "correct" choice for people who hated the high-turnover styles of Harden and Russ.
Then there’s LeBron James. Honestly, you could give LeBron the MVP every year from 2006 to 2020 and you wouldn't be "wrong." In 2017, he averaged 26/8/8 on 54% shooting. But "voter fatigue" is a real thing. People were used to LeBron’s greatness. They wanted the shiny new narrative.
Why the MVP Award NBA 2017 Was a Turning Point
This specific race changed the criteria for the award. Before 2017, there was an unwritten rule: your team had to be a top-two seed. Maybe a three-seed if you were lucky. Westbrook winning as a sixth seed shattered that. It shifted the focus from "Most Valuable Player on a Contender" to "Individual Who Performed the Greatest Statistical Feat."
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It also sparked the "Advanced Stats vs. Eye Test" debate that still plagues Twitter today. If you looked at PER (Player Efficiency Rating) or VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), Westbrook was king. He led the league in almost every catch-all metric. But if you watched the games, you saw the turnovers. You saw the missed rotations because he was gambling for steals or boards.
The 2017 vote was actually relatively close, but Russ took 69 of the 101 first-place votes. It felt like the media decided that the "Triple Double" was a magical threshold. If he had averaged 9.9 rebounds, would he have won? Probably not. That one-tenth of a rebound changed the history of the league.
The Aftermath and Regret
Basketball fans love a good "revisionist history" session. A few years later, when the novelty of the triple-double wore off because Westbrook kept doing it and his teams kept losing in the first round, people started questioning the 2017 vote. Harden eventually got his MVP in 2018, which some saw as a "make-up" award.
But looking back, you can't take away what Westbrook did in the clutch. He led the league in clutch scoring. He hit that absurd 35-foot game-winner against Denver to officially eliminate them and secure his 42nd triple-double of the year. It was a cinematic season.
How to Evaluate MVP Races Today
If you’re trying to settle a bar debate about the mvp award nba 2017 or any future race, look at these three pillars:
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- Context of the Roster: Who was the second-best player? For Russ, it was Victor Oladipo (before he became an All-Star). For Harden, it was probably Trevor Ariza or Eric Gordon.
- Narrative Momentum: The MVP is a regular-season award, but it's often won in March and April. Westbrook’s late-season tear was impossible to ignore.
- The "Replacement" Test: If you take that player off the team, do they become a lottery team? The 2017 Thunder without Russ might have won 15 games. They were lost without him.
The reality is that 2017 was a perfect storm. It was the post-Durant vacuum, the rise of the "three-point or layup" era in Houston, and the peak of Westbrook's physical prime. It was a season where the numbers were so loud they drowned out the win-loss column.
To really understand the weight of this award, look at the voting breakdown. Harden had 756 total points to Westbrook's 888. It wasn't a blowout. It was a divided league. Some voters couldn't get past the 47 wins. Others couldn't get past the history being made.
Actionable Takeaways for NBA Fans
If you're tracking the MVP race in the current season or arguing about the past, keep these things in mind:
- Check the "On-Off" splits. Real impact shows up when the star sits. If the team collapses, that’s "Value."
- Ignore the round numbers. A guy averaging 29.9 points is the same as a guy averaging 30.0. Don't let the "prestige" of 10 or 30 cloud the actual production.
- Watch the fourth quarter. Stats are great, but the MVP is usually decided by who takes over when the game is tied with three minutes left. Westbrook owned those moments in 2017.
- Factor in the "Heavier Lift." Leading a team of role players to the playoffs is arguably harder than being the third star on a superteam.
The 2017 MVP remains the most debated trophy of the decade because it forced us to define what "Valuable" actually means. Is it the best player on the best team, or the player who does the most with the least? There is no right answer, and that's exactly why we're still talking about it.