SuperSonics general manager Sam Presti selected UCLA guard Russell Westbrook fourth overall in the 2008 draft. The pick, like much of Westbrook’s career, was polarizing.
“When NBA commissioner David Stern announced Westbrook’s name, Sonics fans and draft analysts scratched their heads …” the Seattle Times wrote.
Among the critics was beloved college basketball voice Dick Vitale.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Vitale said. “Seattle will look back on this and realize they made a big, big mistake. (Kevin) Love would have been fantastic for them.”
Love would’ve been fantastic. But Presti picked the right Bruin.
“We had him targeted from early in the year,” Presti said after the draft. “He is a competitor, and he is the ultimate teammate.”
Westbrook wore a Sonics hat on draft night, but his rookie season coincided with the franchise’s first in OKC.
This week brings an all-Westbrook edition of Mussatto’s Minutes as part of our continuing coverage of his retirement.
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2008 NBA redraft: Russell Westbrook goes No. 1
Apologies to O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley, but they shouldn’t have been drafted ahead of Westbrook. Here’s what the top-five picks should’ve looked like in 2008.
1. Bulls: Russell Westbrook
Actual pick: Derrick Rose
Where Westbrook went: Fourth
Westbrook is No. 1 in games, minutes, points, assists and steals among 2008 draftees. He’s third in rebounds behind DeAndre Jordan and Kevin Love. Westbrook, despite not being an analytics darling, is first in advanced stats like player efficiency rating, win shares, box plus/minus and volume over replacement player. He has the most All-Star and All-NBA appearances (nine each) among his classmates. He’s the only member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in his class and one of two MVPs — along with Derrick Rose, whom the Bulls picked here. You can’t fault Chicago’s process. Rose and Westbrook were both 99th-percentile athletes. Rose’s body just broke down prematurely.
2. Heat: Kevin Love
Actual pick: Michael Beasley
Where Love went: Fifth
Love, who’s yet to officially retire, was a five-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA second-teamer. Love was the rebounding champ in 2020-11. He was the third-best player on the Cavaliers’ 2015-16 title team. Love adapted his game to the modern NBA. He was a 37% 3-point shooter on high volume for a big.
3. Timberwolves: Brook Lopez
Actual pick: O.J. Mayo (traded to Grizzlies)
Where Lopez was picked: 10th
Lopez, who also hasn’t retired, put up big numbers in New Jersey/Brooklyn. He averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He was an All-Star in 2012-13. Lopez didn’t do a lot of winning with the Nets, though. That changed in Milwaukee. Lopez remade his game in his 30s, specializing in 3-point shooting and shot blocking. He was a starter on the Bucks’ 2020-21 championship team. He finished second for Defensive Player of the Year in 2022-23 at age 34.
4. SuperSonics: DeAndre Jordan
Actual pick: Westbrook
Where Jordan was picked: 35th
Presti got the best player in the draft with the No. 4 pick. All of Thunder history would’ve been altered had Westbrook been off the board by now. Jordan goes No. 4 in our redraft — 31 spots higher than he actually went. Alongside Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, Jordan was a founding partner of Lob City. He was a three-time All-NBA player and one-time All-Star in LA (which says a lot about the centers of the 2010s). Jordan led the NBA in field goal percentage for five consecutive seasons from 2012-17. He was a two-time rebounding champ and thrice finished top five in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He was a backup on Denver’s title team.
5. Grizzlies: Serge Ibaka
Actual pick: Love (traded to Timberwolves)
Where Ibaka was picked: 24th
Quite the draft for Presti, getting a pair of top-five players in Westbrook and Ibaka with the fourth and 24th picks. Ibaka was a three-time All-Defensive first-teamer in OKC. He twice led the league in blocks, including in 2011-12, when he averaged 3.7 blocks for a Thunder team that made the NBA Finals. Ibaka won an NBA title in Toronto. Westbrook is the only player in the top-five of this redraft who didn’t win a title.
More: Russell Westbrook retirement shows why he remains a hero to OKC Thunder fans | Mussatto
What if Westbrook hadn’t stayed?
Westbrook likes to ask “why not?” Here, we’re asking “what if?”
Exactly one month after Kevin Durant ditched the Thunder for the Warriors in the summer of 2016, Westbrook re-upped in OKC.
"There's nowhere else I would rather be than Oklahoma City,” Westbrook said at the time.
Durant leaving was the darkest day in Thunder history. Westbrook’s commitment to stay was among the brightest. He became the contrast to Durant, and Thunder fans will forever love Westbrook for it.
What if Westbrook had wanted out once Durant joined the very team the Thunder had come within a game of beating? A hard reset wasn’t out of question for Westbrook or the Thunder.
Instead, Westbrook doubled down. And so did Sam Presti by acquiring Paul George to team up with Westbrook fresh off the latter’s MVP season.
George had a pair of brilliant seasons with the Thunder, but the Westbrook/George pairing didn’t result in playoff success. It did lead directly to an NBA title, though.
The Thunder traded George to the Clippers for a future two-time MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a slew of picks, one of which became another All-NBA player in Jalen Williams.
Without Westbrook’s commitment to OKC, there would be no Paul George. And hence no SGA. No J-Dub, either. At least not in the way that it happened.
Had Westbrook wanted out when Durant left, the Thunder rebuild would’ve started two or three seasons earlier than it actually did. And the odds that any other timeline would’ve turned out as fruitful are astronomical.
More: Kevin Durant writes retirement message to Russell Westbrook: 'Keep inspiring'
Can Westbrook be caught?
Russell Westbrook is the Thunder’s all-time leader in just about everything. Including points (18,859).
Kevin Durant (15,942) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (12,522) are the only other players with north of 10,000 points for the Thunder. Serge Ibaka is a distant fourth with just over 6,000 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s averaged 30-plus points four seasons running, has a realistic chance of catching Westbrook.
Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 31.3 points in his four seasons as an All-Star. He’s averaged 72 games per season in that stretch. That’s 2,254 points per season.
If SGA keeps up that pace, which is asking a lot, he could pass Westbrook on the Thunder scoring list by the end of the 2028-29 season. SGA, on the aforementioned pace, would eclipse 19,000 points with the Thunder by the end of his age 30 season.
Thunder all-time scoring list
1. Russell Westbrook: 18,859 points
2. Kevin Durant: 15,942
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 12,522
4. Serge Ibaka: 6,054
5. Steven Adams: 5,191
6. Lu Dort: 5,018
7. Jalen Williams: 4,464
8. Paul George: 3,893
9. Jeff Green: 3,273
10. Chet Holmgren: 3,017
More: Russell Westbrook's No. 0 was more than number. It was OKC Thunder beginnings | Mussatto
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why Russell Westbrook goes No. 1 in 2008 NBA redraft | Mussatto's Minutes