Russell Westbrook joins Karl Malone & John Stockton among greatest to never win title

First off, congratulations to Russell Westbrook on an excellent career. There's no doubt whatsoever that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As an MVP, nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA, two-time scoring champion, three-time league leader in assists, two-time All-Star Game MVP, and a member of the NBA's exclusive 75th anniversary team, there's no credible argument against Westbrook not being amongst the greats.

For that reason, salute to Westbrook for an amazing career!

if you don't want the moment to be ruined, don't read what's next.

With Westbrook's career now over, he enters the conversation of the greatest NBA players who never won a title, joining the likes of Karl Malone and John Stockton. The Utah Jazz legends regularly come up when this conversation emerges, and for good reason. Not only were they among the best ever, but they also remained quality players well into their 40s.

Westbrook followed a similar trajectory. His scoring average never dipped below double digits, and his assists and rebound averages never waned, which was quite impressive for someone his size. Yes, Westbrook had his flaws that stood out like a sore thumb, but the guy played his heart out, and look how long his career lasted.

The NBA has hardly ever seen players as athletic as he was nor have they seen players who went 100% from start to finish like Westbrook did. Like Malone and Stockton, he did everything in his power to live up to his potential.

But sadly, it's because of this that Westbrook is very much in that same conversation as them as the greatest to never win it all. That's the one caveat to having the career he did. A player of his caliber playing at the level he did for years makes it's hard not to notice no trophies.

If it's any consolation, Malone and Stockton know his pain.

Like Malone & Stockton, Westbrook had his chances

Westbrook played for a lot of good teams over the course of his career. In fact, he and Oklahoma City basically staked their claim as the team that would regularly make it back to the bloodbath of a Western Conference Finals throughout the first half of the 2010s.

This even got to the point where he and the Thunder made the NBA Finals in 2012, though they were quickly ousted by LeBron James and the Heatles in five games. At the time, everyone thought it was just the beginning for Westbrook and OKC, but then, the James Harden trade happened, and the dominoes that followed ruined everything.

Westbrook never got that close again, which makes him victim to two of the biggest NBA what-ifs of the 21st century: what if the Thunder kept Harden, and what if Kevin Durant doesn't split town in 2016.

Again, Malone and Stockton know that to some degree, though not nearly as extreme as Westbrook. There will always be the what-if with the Jordan push-off or if Derek Harper had accepted his trade to Utah in 1997.

Even if Westbrook will be put in the same conversation as Malone and Stockton, it doesn't discount a phenomenal career from one of the NBA's most unique superstars it had ever seen.

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