It was the year of the triple-double. 2017 didn't just feel like a basketball season; it felt like a collision course between traditional winning and individual statistical dominance. When people look back at who was the mvp of nba 2017, they usually remember the historical milestone first. Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double for an entire season. That hadn't happened since Oscar Robertson did it in 1962. For decades, we thought that was an untouchable record, a relic of a high-paced 60s era that would never translate to the modern game. Then Russ happened.
He was angry. He was relentless. After Kevin Durant left for the Warriors in the summer of 2016, Westbrook turned the Oklahoma City Thunder into a one-man wrecking crew. But was he actually the best player that year? Honestly, it depends on who you ask and what day you ask them. The debate between Westbrook and James Harden—and to a lesser extent, Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James—basically tore NBA Twitter apart for six months.
The Triple-Double That Broke the Internet
Let's talk numbers because, in 2017, numbers were everything. Westbrook finished the season with 31.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game. He played 81 games. He broke the single-season record for triple-doubles with 42 of them. Think about that for a second. In more than half the games he played, he hit double digits in three major categories. It was a statistical anomaly that seemed to override the standard "winning" criteria we usually apply to the MVP award.
The Thunder finished with 47 wins. In almost any other year of NBA history, a 47-win team doesn't produce an MVP. Usually, the award goes to the best player on a top-two seed. But Westbrook’s narrative was too strong. He was the abandoned superstar. He was the guy carrying a roster that, frankly, didn't have much spacing or secondary playmaking. Victor Oladipo hadn't become that Oladipo yet. Domantas Sabonis was a rookie. Enes Kanter was a bench scorer. Russ was the system.
Critics pointed to "stat-padding." You've probably seen the clips of Steven Adams boxing out his own man so Westbrook could grab an uncontested defensive rebound. Critics argued that those rebounds were manufactured to reach the magic number of ten. Maybe they were. But you can't "pad" 10.4 assists and 31.7 points while leading the league in scoring. He was the most impactful floor raiser in the league that year, even if the ceiling of that impact was a first-round exit.
The Case for James Harden
If you want to understand why the mvp of nba 2017 race was so controversial, you have to look at what James Harden was doing in Houston. Under Mike D'Antoni, Harden moved to full-time point guard and it was a revelation. He averaged 29.1 points, 11.2 assists, and 8.1 rebounds.
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The Rockets won 55 games. That's eight more wins than the Thunder.
Harden’s efficiency was significantly higher than Westbrook’s. He was the engine of a historically great offense that changed how the league viewed the three-point shot. If Harden had grabbed two more rebounds per game, he would have averaged a triple-double too. If he had done that, he almost certainly wins the award. It shows how much we, as fans and voters, are suckers for "round numbers." 10-10-10 looks a lot better on a graphic than 29-11-8, even if the latter might actually contribute more to winning basketball.
The Moment the Race Ended
There’s usually a "heist" moment in every MVP race. For Russ, it happened in Denver on April 9, 2017.
I remember watching that game. It was late in the season. The MVP buzz was at a fever pitch. Westbrook needed one more triple-double to break Oscar Robertson’s record. He got it. But then, with the game on the line and the Thunder trailing by two in the final seconds, he pulled up from about 35 feet.
Splash.
He finished with 50 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. He eliminated the Nuggets from playoff contention with a buzzer-beater. In that single moment, the narrative was sealed. It didn't matter what the advanced analytics said about James Harden’s True Shooting percentage. It didn't matter that Kawhi Leonard was the best two-way player on a 61-win Spurs team. Westbrook had the "MVP moment" that felt like destiny.
Beyond the Top Two: Kawhi and LeBron
We often forget how good Kawhi Leonard was that year. 2017 was arguably his peak as a regular-season force before the injuries started to really pile up. He was the spearhead of a San Antonio team that remained elite even after Tim Duncan retired. He averaged 25.5 points and played DPOY-level defense. In many ways, he was the "purest" candidate. He wasn't chasing stats, and he was winning at a massive clip.
Then there's LeBron James. He had a typical LeBron year: 26-8-8 on 54% shooting. But because the Cavaliers struggled with coasting during the regular season and finished with 51 wins in a weak East, he was almost an afterthought in the voting. It’s wild to think that a guy putting up those numbers on a defending championship team could finish fourth in voting, but that was the level of competition in 2017.
The voting breakdown ended up like this:
- Russell Westbrook: 888 points (69 first-place votes)
- James Harden: 753 points (22 first-place votes)
- Kawhi Leonard: 500 points (9 first-place votes)
- LeBron James: 333 points (1 first-place vote)
The gap between Westbrook and Harden was closer than people remember, but the first-place vote disparity shows that the "triple-double" narrative was an unstoppable force.
Did the Voters Get It Right?
Hindsight is 20/20. If you look at the years that followed, the NBA almost "corrected" itself. The following year, Harden won the MVP with similar numbers on a 65-win team. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic later won MVPs based on a blend of elite efficiency and team success. The 2017 season remains an outlier—the one time the league decided that a historic individual statistical achievement outweighed the tradition of winning 50+ games.
It’s also worth noting that the "triple-double" has become somewhat devalued since then. Westbrook went on to average a triple-double in three of the next four seasons. Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Domantas Sabonis now put up triple-doubles with such regularity that they barely lead the SportsCenter highlights anymore. In 2017, it was a novelty. Today, it's just modern basketball pace and spacing.
The Legacy of the 2017 MVP Award
When we discuss the mvp of nba 2017, we’re really discussing what the award is actually for. Is it the "Best Player" award? Is it the "Most Valuable to His Specific Team" award? Or is it a "History Maker" award?
For that one season, it was about the spectacle. Westbrook was a walking volcano. Every night felt like he was trying to spite the entire world for what happened in the offseason. He played with a violence that we rarely see in a 82-game grind. Even if you think Harden was "better" in a vacuum, you can't deny that Westbrook owned the soul of that season.
He was the first player since 1982 (Moses Malone) to win the award on a team with fewer than 50 wins. It broke the mold. It showed that if you do something loud enough and historic enough, the voters will ignore the standings.
Actionable Insights for NBA Fans and Historians
If you’re trying to settle a debate about the 2017 MVP or just want to understand the era better, keep these points in mind:
- Look at the On/Off Splits: The 2017 Thunder were essentially a lottery team when Westbrook sat. Their Net Rating plummeted. That is the core argument for his "value."
- Contextualize the "Stat Padding": Yes, the Thunder prioritized Westbrook getting defensive boards to start the break. It was a tactical choice, not just a vanity project. It allowed them to play at a pace their roster wasn't otherwise built for.
- Evaluate the 50-Win Rule: Before 2017, the 50-win mark was a soft requirement for MVP. Since then, the criteria have become much more fluid, focusing more on advanced metrics (like PER or VORP) where Westbrook also happened to lead the league in 2017.
- Watch the Denver "Game 80" Highlights: If you want to understand why he won, watch the final three minutes of that game. It's the most concise explanation of his MVP candidacy.
The 2017 race changed the way we talk about the NBA. It moved us away from just looking at the standings and forced us to reckon with high-usage, heliocentric basketball. Whether that's a good thing for the sport is still debated today, but Russell Westbrook's 2017 campaign remains one of the most singular, defiant seasons in the history of professional sports.
Check the Basketball-Reference logs for April 2017 if you ever doubt the late-season surge. He averaged 32.5 points in that final month. He didn't just stumble across the finish line; he sprinted through it. That’s why he’s the MVP.