To the befuddlement of us all, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has staunchly refused to say Russell Westbrook is an NBA superstar in the past. While he’s still not ready to completely buy into the rather obvious truth that the rest of us have accepted, Cuban is relenting just a bit these days.
Mark Cuban kind of softens his stance on Russell Westbrook: "If he's not a superstar, he's the closest thing to it."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 21, 2017
Of course, this all started during the playoffs last year when Cuban said Westbrook wasn’t one.
This latest comment echoes something Cuban said in December when Westbrook was piling up triple-doubles like the rest of us pile up dirty laundry. At the time, Cuban said the Oklahoma City Thunder star was putting up superstar stats but still wasn’t worthy of the superstar moniker (more on that here).
Regardless of your team allegiance, unless you’re a Mavericks fan it’s getting pretty hard not to root for Westbrook to just own Dallas every time he plays the Mavs. And who knows? Maybe if the Thunder land Carmelo Anthony in a surprise trade, Westbrook can finally win a title and shut Cuban up for good.
Ah, well one can dream, right?