We all know Russell Westbrook has been having a season for the ages and there are many different theories as to why he should or should not be MVP. But a pressing question is how valuable is a triple double every other night for the OKC Thunder?
Is there a possibility that other players could also be producing at this same level if they wanted to? Do they make a conscious choice not to because they deem it detrimental to their team?
What would LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Isaiah Thomas, and Kawhi Leonard’s stats look like if they all had Russell Westbrook’s 42% usage rate?
This is obviously a simplistic way of looking at it, seeing as this doesn’t account for a few variables such as players teammates. This is merely players’ current stats with a usage rate conversion and how it would be projected to affect their stats.
If you take the 2P shots made, 3P shots made, free throws made, assists, and turnovers, divided by the current usage rate and multiplied by Westbrook’s 42% usage rate.
Russell Westbrook: 31.7ppg, 11rpg, 10.4apg, 5.6tov, 42fg% usage 42%
LeBron James: 37ppg, 8.2rpg, 12.4apg, 6tov, 54fg% original usage 29.7%
Steph Curry: 35ppg, 4.5rpg, 9apg, 4tov, 46fg% original usage 29.5%
Kevin Durant: 38ppg, 8.2rpg, 7.2apg, 2.87tov, 44fg% original usage 27.8%
James Harden: 36ppg, 8rpg, 14apg, 7tov, 44fg% original usage 34%
Isaiah Thomas: 35.7ppg, 2.7rpg, 7.5apg, 3.3tov, 46fg% original usage 34.4%
Kawhi Leonard: 35.7ppg, 6rpg, 4.6apg, 2.7tov, 49fg% original usage 31%
Note: This does not consider the tighter defense and double teams this sort of increase in usage would attract so it’s very likely there’d be an overall statistical decrease. Specifically, higher usage would cause a decrease in FG% and overall efficiency slightly but based on a broader understanding of how the majority of these players perform over longer stretches, their age and what have you, you can judge for yourself as to how they’d stack up!
Shoutout to tigercoffee for the calculations.