Mark Jackson and Greg Anthony Voting Russell Westbrook 5th for MVP is Beyond Ridiculous

The darling of box score enthusiasts everywhere, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook somehow managed to get some minor MVP consideration on the back of his third straight season averaging a triple-double despite the fact that a Thunder team featuring himself and Paul George could only manage the No. 6 seed in the West.

Greg Anthony and Mark Jackson, former NBA point guards in their own right, even put Russ fifth on their respective MVP ballots.

At the risk of sounding like Colin Cowherd, Westbrook should have been nowhere near fifth place on that ballot. While he was better defensively this season than his reputation had him pegged, he was startlingly inefficient on offense.

Even worse, one writer for Italian paper la Gassetta Della Sport even managed to vote him FOURTH in one of several puzzling voting choices. Are these guys even watching the games?

We all know that Westbrook is the king of the triple-double, but when those triple-doubles are coming at the sacrifice of wins (and stamina for the postseason), russ becomes less an indispensable player and more of a stat-padder. His declining shooting only makes his stats feel more hollow and forced.

Westbrook is still an elite athlete, future Hall of Fame player, and leader of a Thunder team that should make the playoffs once again in 2019-20. However, he shouldn't be considered for any silverware unless he finds that equilibrium between triple-doubles every night and the Thunder winning late in the season. Until then, voting him ahead of guys like Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, and Nikola Jokic just doesn't make any sense at all.