Elfrid Payton Is Proving That Russell Westbrook’s Triple Doubles Mean Nothing

Elfrid Payton is doing something historic! Payton became only the 5th player in NBA history to record 5 straight triple doubles! My question is who cares? Wake me up when Triple Doubles matter. The fact that Elfrid Payton is recording Triple Doubles only suggests one thing. Russell Westbrook’s Triple Double record means nothing.

Elfrid Payton is a nobody. He couldn’t mean less to ticket or jersey sales. Before he cut his hair, the guy was kind of a bust. Anthony Davis is barely playing so Payton has taken on more of a load by grabbing meaningless rebounds. In the 5 game stretch that Payton has recorded a Triple Double, the Pelicans are 1-5. Payton’s ON/OFF numbers are virtually identical when he isn’t on the court.

Getting a Triple Double shouldn’t be celebrated. It’s just something that happens. The pace of the game is faster. The shot clock on offensive rebounds is faster. Scoring is way up. Possessions per game is way up. As long as you have a player that controls the ball long enough to get easy assists, Triple Doubles can happen every single night. It’s like a guy scoring 15 points per night. Seems pretty reasonable as long as the guy gets his shots. It’s not impressive. The fact that a nobody has one in 5 straight games is only proving that.

That brings us to Russell Westbrook. The Cancerous Westbrook gets praise for averaging a meaningless Triple Double but still hasn’t won a playoff series without Kevin Durant. He probably won’t win one this year either. Westbrook is shooting a meager 42 percent and ugly 28 percent from 3-point range. Despite the fact that he can’t shoot, he still averages more than 5 3-point attempts per game.

Have you ever noticed that no other superstar player cares about Triple Doubles? Not one. Just Westbrook because he takes way too many shots, constantly has the ball in his hands, and gooses his rebounding numbers to make himself feel better. Elfrid Payton is now doing what Russell Westbrook is doing. Who cares? The Triple Double never meant anything to begin with. Come talk to me when the guy wins.