NBA

Lakers Russell Westbrook enters the all-time Top 10 list for most career assists

Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Updated31 Jan 2023

Russell Westbrook keeps making a name for himself in the history books, as this Monday night he entered the Top 10 list for most career assists in the NBA. The Lakers star has handed out 8,967 assists in total, one more than the Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton.

Besides the fact that Lakers lost last night to Brooklyn 121-104, Westbrook assisted his teammates to score 10 times during the match. As his squad played without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, he had to take more responsabilities on court, also adding 17 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block against the Nets.

Russell Westbrook is now 10th all-time in career assists.

Congrats, Russ! pic.twitter.com/pyOq5oDgPA

— NBA (@NBA) January 31, 2023

“In the NBA, I never dreamt of being in this position, nor getting to the point to where I’m next to some of the greats,” Westbrook said after the game, “and I’m just truly grateful and thankful for an opportunity to keep playing at the highest level and I don’t take any of it for granted.”

Russell Westbrook’s statistical dominance is demonstrated night after night, as he just keeps breaking records. Either he is coming off the bench, or simply leading his team defensively, coaches around the league have praised the veteran’s versatility. Just last week he became the 28th highest scorer in NBA records as he dropped over 24,000 points throughout his career.

This recent milestone comes in a much different role than his MVP days, as Westbrook has become the sixth man for a Lakers team battling to return to the playoffs. According to some of our favorite sport betting sites, Westbrook is the favorite to win the 2023 6th Man of The Year Award (-175).

This comes as no surprise, as the Lakers man has already broken many records coming in as a substitute in recent matches. For example, just last week he made more scoring history, as he became the first player to make multiple triple-doubles coming off the bench with the Los Angeles side.

The 34-year-old is the third active player on this historic Top 10, next to his teammate LeBron James with 10,327 in the sixth spot and Los Angeles Clippers Chris Paul is third with 11,237 career assists.

Here you can see the complete list of the Top 10 NBA career assists:

Congrats to @russwest44 of the @Lakers for moving to 10th all-time in career assists! pic.twitter.com/ZOKEe8QJ6k

— NBA (@NBA) January 31, 2023

As you can see, now Westbrook is only 94 assists away to overcome Isiah Thomas who’s in the ninth place. After this feat, he’s still far away from Oscar Robertson (almost 900 assists apart).

This isn’t the only record he’s been chasing after the Milwaukee Bucks legend, as his latest averaged triple-double is an accomplishment he achieved three times after Robertson alone bore that single-season standard for over 50 years.

The Los Angeles team hope to recover key players LeBron James and Anthony Davis for their next game, and hopefully return to their winning ways after two consecutive defeats against the Celtics and the Nets. Westbrook desperately needs his co-stars not only colectively, but he also achieves more personal stats with them on court.

Three weeks ago, King James and himself gave out a passing clinic against Milwaukee with 22 assists combined between both Lakers stars. Watch it for yourself!