Mavs Owner Mark Cuban Says Thunder's Russell Westbrook Is 'Not a Superstar' Like Teammate Kevin Durant
Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban made some rather controversial statements about two of the Oklahoma Thunder's players.
The third-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the sixth-seeded Mavericks within five games. The said game took place last Monday, April 25th, in Oklahoma, ending with a final score of 118-104.
Point guard Russell Westbrook was the top contributor for his team during the said contest, dropping 36 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 13 out of 23 from the field, through 38 minutes of playing time.
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For the entire playoff series, so far, the 27-year old Westbrook has been averaging 26 points, along with 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds, through 36 minutes of playing time per game. Yet, despite of these accomplishments, Cuban is not entirely impressed with Westbrook as a player.
According to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman, the hotshot owner of the Mavericks went on to compare Westbrook to Thunder mainstay Kevin Durant.
"Russell's certainly an All-Star, but I consider Durant a superstar," Cuban was quoted saying.
The 57-year old businessman and film producer also went on to bring in his own long-time franchise player Dirk Nowitzki into the mix, noting how he had won 50 games in 15 years, "no matter what".
"So, to go the 15 years where Dirk won 50, that's a superstar," Cuban said. "There's only a few guys that you put them on any team and they'll win 50 games. To me that's the definition of a superstar."
However, Tom Ziller of SBNation countered some of Cuban's claims, describing them as "ahistoric". According to Ziller's report, while Cuban was correct about Nowitzki's impressive accomplishment, he did not do it by himself, as he also had Steve Nash by his side during the Mavericks' 50-win seasons.
"The first four 50-win seasons of Dirk's career also featured a fellow named Steve Nash, who is an obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer and a guy with twice as many league MVPs as Dirk," an excerpt of Ziller's report reads.
