Only so many players in NBA history can lead their team to a victory while posting the first 35-point, 20-assist triple-double in NBA history and become subject not to praise, but to criticism.
That's exactly what happened with Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook, who accomplished the feat listed above with a monstrous performance against the Indiana Pacers. Stephen A. Smith, with the "utmost respect to Russell Westbrook," doesn't see stats like these as meaningful in the grand scheme of things, with an emphasis on team success.
Westbrook was then asked to address what Smith said, and Westbrook looked at it from a more general perspective about how this is bigger than basketball and how he won't allow certain narratives to develop when he knows the impact he has. And he's not talking about the 35-point, 20-assist, triple-double impact. He's talking about the non-basketball things that his NBA platform has given him access to, such as inspiring millions of fans and giving back to his community (h/t Wizards writer Fred Katz for transcription):
"I've been playing basketball for my whole life. Like my wife mentioned, it's important that you don't let people deter you from your goal, deter you from your plan, deter you from the things you have as destiny in this world. The prime example is, I watch these college games, and I watch these kids and these announcers, man, they get on the TV and just say anything about a kid. They don't even know him. They don't know his family. They don't know where he's from. They don't know what he's been through. They don't know his troubles. They don't know his pain. They don't know anything about the kid, but one thing said on TV can determine how you perceive this kid on TV, which will allow him to be able to reach his goals, which will allow him not to be able to get drafted, which will allow him not to take care of his family, which will now not create generational wealth, which now make our people and the minorities, underserved communities — this is way bigger than basketball.
"That's my entire life focus. My wife, that's what she was mentioning, because we talk about it all the time. I sit back. I don't say much... I don't like to go back and forth about people, but one thing I won't allow to happen anymore is to let people create narratives and constantly just talking sh-t for no reason about me, because I lay it on the line every night. I use my platform to be able to help people all across the world. Nobody can take that away from me. I've been blessed to be able to have a platform to do it, and like I said before, a championship don't change my life. I'm happy. I was a champion once I made it to the NBA. I grew up in the streets. I'm a champion.
"I don't have to be an NBA champion. I know many people that got NBA championships that's miserable, haven't done nothing for their community, haven't done nothing for the people in our world. And for me, man, my legacy, like I mentioned before, is not based on what I do on this court. I'm not gonna play basketball my whole life. My legacy is what I do off the floor, how many people I'm able to impact and inspire along my journey, man. That's how I keep my head down and keep pushing because it's very important that you don't let the negativity seep in, because it's been like that my whole career, honestly. There's no other player that... takes the heat that I take constantly. But I take it as a positive, because obviously, I'm doing something right if people are talking about me. And that's how I feel."
Westbrook mentioned comments that his wife, Nina, made after seeing Smith's take about Westbrook's success, which likely prompted a discussion and the subsequent statement made by the Wizards' guard.
"So... how tiring it is to be minding your own business and have notifications pop up on your phone about people being negative and hating on your family," Nina Westbrook said on her Instagram story. "There are several things wrong with what @stephenasmith says here."
She went on to highlight how what announcers say can affect — often negatively — how young college players are seen, as Westbrook mentioned at the start of his presser response.
"Imagine if Russell let the words of a @stephenasmith deter him from being the amazing human that he is," Nina Westbrook wrote. "Imagine if Russell actually cared that @stephenasmith said that he did not care about his accomplishment. He'd be crushed. He wouldn't be the talent that he is today had he listened to people like @stephenasmith tell him he was not good enough, or that he could only celebrate his accomplishments if he lived up to who THEY thought he should be."
Nina Westbrook also emphasized that Westbrook is the "happiest he's ever been" and doesn't need a championship to justify his legacy as a great player and person.
This year, Westbrook announced his plans to expand his Why Not? Foundation and his enterprise firm, with a focus on "education and investments in finance and other areas that are intended to aid underserved communities," (via Haleluya Hadero of the Associated Press).
It's one of many philanthropic ventures on which he's embarked, and whether or not he's taking heat from critics, dropping triple-doubles, or winning a championship on the court doesn't impact that legacy one bit.
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