It was the year of the triple-double. Honestly, if you weren’t watching the NBA in the 2016-2017 season, you missed what might be the most polarizing MVP race in the history of the sport. We’re talking about a season where the record books didn’t just get updated—they got shredded. When people ask who won the NBA MVP 2017, the answer is Russell Westbrook. But that short answer doesn’t even begin to cover the chaos, the debates, and the way Kevin Durant’s departure from Oklahoma City set the stage for a revenge tour of epic proportions.
Russell Westbrook didn't just win. He hunted that trophy.
After KD bolted for the 73-win Warriors, Russ was left in a scorched-earth version of OKC. Most players would have folded or asked for a trade. Russ? He decided to average a triple-double for the entire season. It hadn't been done since Oscar Robertson in 1962. For decades, we thought that was a "unbreakable" record, like Wilt's 100 points or Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak. Then Russ happened. He ended the year with 42 triple-doubles, surpassing the Big O’s single-season mark.
The Triple-Double King vs. The Beard
The 2017 MVP race wasn't a runaway. Far from it. James Harden was doing things in Houston that were arguably just as historic. Under Mike D’Antoni, Harden transitioned to full-time point guard and became a statistical flamethrower. He led the league in assists. He was more efficient than Westbrook. His team won more games.
Usually, that’s the formula. Better seed plus elite stats equals MVP.
But the "narrative" was a freight train. You had Westbrook dragging a mediocre Thunder roster to 47 wins through sheer force of will. Every night felt like a heavyweight fight. People argued on Twitter, on ESPN, and at bars about whether Westbrook was "stat-padding" or if he was simply the most valuable player because the Thunder would have been a lottery team without him. The voting reflected that tension, but ultimately, the sheer weight of the 31.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game was too much for voters to ignore.
Why the 2017 Vote Was Different
Historically, the MVP goes to a top-two seed. Westbrook’s Thunder were the 6th seed. That was the huge sticking point. Critics like Zach Lowe and various analytics-heavy writers pointed out that James Harden’s Rockets were the 3rd seed and that Harden’s "gravity" created a better offense.
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It didn't matter.
The moment Russ hit that 50-foot game-winner against Denver—the one where he also recorded his 42nd triple-double of the season—the race was over. You can’t write a script better than that. It was the "He’s the MVP" moment. Even the Nuggets fans in the building were cheering for him. It was surreal.
Breaking Down the Statistical Madness
Let's look at what we’re actually talking about here. Westbrook wasn't just hovering around those numbers. He was dominant.
He scored over 50 points in three different triple-double performances. He had a 57-point triple-double against Orlando. Just think about that. You’re scoring nearly 60 points and still finding time to grab 13 boards and dish out 11 assists. It’s exhausting just to type it out.
Harden, for his part, put up 29.1 points, 11.2 assists, and 8.1 rebounds. In almost any other year in NBA history, James Harden is your 2017 MVP. He became the first player to ever account for 2,000 points of his own and assist on 2,000 points for his teammates. It was a statistical unicorn season that got overshadowed by an even rarer unicorn.
Kawhi Leonard was also in the mix. People forget that. He was the best player on a 61-win Spurs team and was arguably the best two-way player in the world at the time. LeBron James was, well, LeBron James—averaging 26/8/8 for a Cavs team that was coasting toward another Finals appearance. But the 2017 vibe was all about the Westbrook-Harden duel.
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The Efficiency Debate
If you want to get into the weeds, the Westbrook skeptics always point to efficiency. Russ shot 42.5% from the field. That’s not great. He took a lot of shots. A lot of contested, "what are you doing?" shots.
Harden was more efficient. Kawhi was way more efficient.
But value is subjective. To the voters, value that year meant "who carried the heaviest load?" Westbrook’s usage rate was a staggering 41.7%, the highest in NBA history at that point. He was the offense. He was the energy. He was the culture of Oklahoma City in a post-Durant world.
The Lasting Impact on How We Vote
The fact that who won the NBA MVP 2017 was a 6th-seed player changed the award forever. It broke the "winning requirement." Before 2017, it was an unwritten rule that you had to be on a championship contender to win. Russ proved that if your individual brilliance is loud enough, you can bypass the standings.
We saw this play out later with Nikola Jokic winning as a lower seed when his teammates were injured. The "Westbrook Exception" opened the door for the "Best Player" argument to win out over the "Best Team" argument.
However, it also led to triple-double fatigue. Now, when a player gets 10/10/10, we barely blink. Westbrook did it so often that he actually made the extraordinary look routine, which is a weird kind of punishment for a legend. He eventually averaged a triple-double in four different seasons. Four! But the first one—the 2017 one—was the only one that captured the world's imagination because it felt impossible until he did it.
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Beyond the Top Two
The voting results weren't even that close in the end. Westbrook took 69 first-place votes. Harden took 22. Kawhi got 9, and LeBron got one.
The media, the fans, and even other players were captivated by the "Why Not?" campaign. That was Westbrook's slogan. It wasn't just marketing; it was a philosophy. He played every game like someone had insulted his mother. That intensity is what won him the trophy. While Harden was craftier and perhaps "better" for a winning system, Westbrook was the more compelling story.
Real-World Takeaways and Perspective
If you’re looking back at this era to understand how the NBA shifted, 2017 is the pivot point. It was the height of the "stat-stuffing" vs. "winning basketball" debate.
- Context is everything. You can't judge the 2017 MVP race without remembering the emotional weight of Kevin Durant leaving. The NBA is a soap opera, and Westbrook was the protagonist of that specific season.
- The Triple-Double is no longer the gold standard. Because of Westbrook (and later Jokic and Luka Doncic), we realized that rebounds for guards are sometimes "cheap." We started looking at "contested vs. uncontested" rebounds because of the 2017 debate.
- Seeding matters, until it doesn't. If you're going to win from a low seed, you better do something that hasn't been seen in 50 years. That’s the bar Russ set.
When you think about who won the NBA MVP 2017, don't just think about the trophy. Think about a guy who refused to let his franchise sink into irrelevance. Think about the 50-point outbursts and the 15-assist nights. Whether you think Harden got robbed or Russ deserved it, you have to admit: we will probably never see another season that feels that frantic and desperate again.
To really understand the impact of this season, you should go back and watch the highlights of the Thunder vs. Nuggets game from April 9, 2017. It’s the definitive proof of why Westbrook won. He didn't just play for the stats that night; he willed a victory out of thin air when his team had no business winning. That is the definition of value.
For anyone tracking NBA history, keep a close eye on how MVP criteria continue to shift. We are currently in an era where "advanced analytics" often battle "narrative," and 2017 was the first major collision of those two worlds. If you're debating MVP picks for the current season, use the 2017 criteria as your "extreme case" benchmark: Can a player's individual brilliance overcome a mediocre team record? Usually, the answer is no—unless they do exactly what Russell Westbrook did.
Next Steps for NBA Fans:
Check out the official NBA archival footage of Westbrook’s 2016-17 season to see the difference between his "contested" and "uncontested" rebounds. Comparing his shot chart from that year to James Harden’s provides a clear look at how two vastly different styles of play can both result in historic productivity.