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What Russell Westbrook Taught Us About Our Love for Athletes
Mr. Triple-Double's cultural impact transcended stats
When athletes retire, we mourn.
After 18 seasons, Russell Westbrook announced his retirement from the NBA, and the sports world had a visceral reaction. Full-grown adults sat on empty park benches listening to sad music, reminiscing about his career.
We won’t just miss watching him play. The reason athletes permeate popular culture transcends their playing abilities. Their movement through the world represents something larger. Russell Westbrook is the perfect case study.
In honor of Mr. Triple-Double himself, I’m going to double down on three philosophies he demonstrated throughout his 18-year stint.
Ask “Why Not?”
In basketball, a triple-double is defined as a player reaching double digits in three key statistical categories during a single game. Most players who step onto an NBA court never record even one. Russell Westbrook holds the record for the most regular-season triple-doubles with 209.
Westbrook, like most people, dealt with criticism and self-doubt, but navigated it with relentless perseverance. Russ’s famous personal catchphrase, “Why not?” demonstrates defiant confidence. He did things others believed he couldn’t. He leaves us with the notion that anything is possible if you don’t limit yourself to the expectations others place on you.
Defy Boundaries
Russ has never been one to cleanly fit into a box. He doesn’t let boundaries define him.
A fashion icon, Westbrook was one of the first players to turn the tunnel walk into a runway show, helping make it the global cultural phenomenon it is today. He bends the rules of traditionally masculine fashion, sporting kilts, bright red glasses, cropped sweaters and mesh tanks. He even started his own fashion brand.
The clothes themselves aren’t really the point. Russ is fearlessly fully himself. Whether through the way he dresses or the way he plays, he has always seemed uninterested in making himself smaller or more conventional for others. He inspires us to embrace qualities in ourselves that we might otherwise be afraid to express.
Enjoy the Ride
Westbrook’s career wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. He endured a great deal of challenges… unfair criticism, injuries, losses, trades, negative press coverage. Through it all, Russ still had fun, as evidenced by the countless clips of him dancing and smiling on the bench. It’s a reminder that you can face hardships and still make room to enjoy the little moments along the way.
Athletes’ careers can feel strangely personal to us. In them, we recognize a way of being that we admire, identify with or wish we possessed ourselves.
Though Westbrook certainly made a profound impact within the game of basketball, what many of us will carry are the things he represented beyond it: relentless belief in yourself, the confidence to defy expectations, and the ability to enjoy the ride.
Why not?
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Danielle Moss is a strategist at Barbarian, where she fuses cultural fluency, creativity, and emerging technology to shape forward-thinking brand strategy. Passionate about elevating underrepresented voices, she led the creation of The New Era of Women’s Sports, a first-of-its-kind guide helping brands connect authentically with women’s sports audiences.
