In the same way Golden State’s Steph Curry has far and away established himself as basketball’s best player this NBA season, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook seems to be pulling away as the league’s coolest person.
Before the point guard’s stomach-churning battle with Curry’s Warriors in Oklahoma City, Westbrook arrived to the arena wearing a Tournament Shoot Out jersey from 1994’s Above the Rim. The quality of that movie on its own is questionable, but wearing a ’90s film replica of any kind, especially one featuring one of Tupac Shakur’s most memorable roles, is always a coolness trump card.
That power move would be enough for most players, but Westbrook never turns off his cool switch. A couple of nights earlier during a game in New Orleans, the triple-double king made statements with his actions instead of his outfits.
In the process of sinking a shot from the left elbow, he was knocked down by a hard foul, only to immediately turn his roll on the floor into a celebratory handstand.
Maybe that infectious energy caught the eye of Kendrick Perkins, the New Orleans player who once acted as the Thunder’s own version of Friday’s Deebo. Later in the same game, when Perk was forced to foul Westbrook, he wrapped his former teammate of five years in a tight bear hug and even kissed him on the head.
You know your cool quotient is off the charts when you can squeeze affection from The Big Scowl.
Print headline: Best baller
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2016.