Mark Cuban Says Russell Westbrook Isn’t A Superstar, Upsets Fans

Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban has upset quite a few fans today with his comment that Russell Westbrook is not a superstar. Westbrook has a ton of fans who feel like he is obviously a superstar. Cuban revealed that he sees Kevin Durant as the only superstar on the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. This all went down before Monday night’s Game 5. ESPN shared what Mark Cuban had to say about the Thunder players today before the game.

Mark Cuban on Russell Westbrook: 'He's an All-Star but not a superstar.'

Wait, what? https://t.co/6oB1IcfAnv pic.twitter.com/4JuuRWO90Y

— theScore (@theScore) April 25, 2016

Mark Cuban wasn’t impressed with the fact that Durant missed half of the last season due to a broken foot, and Westbrook couldn’t carry the team without him. They had a lack of success when Durant wasn’t around. Mark Cuban actually thinks someone on his team is a superstar, though. Here is what Mark Cuban shared.

“You look at Dirk [Nowitzki]. I’m not going to talk about other teams’ player, I guess other than what I just said, but Dirk for 15 years won 50 games no matter what. We put Moe, Larry and Curly next to him and we won 50 games. Russ is certainly an All-Star, but I consider Durant a superstar.”

Mark Cuban went on to say that Dirk carries his team to 50 wins in a season. He does feel like Kidd was another Hall of Famer that they had on the Mavericks. Mark Cuban went on to explain that he doesn’t really feel like many teams have more than one superstar on their team. To him, the only superstar on the Oklahoma City Thunder is Kevin Durant. He doesn’t feel like Westbrook handled himself well enough when Durant wasn’t with him on the court. Here is what Mark Cuban revealed.

“But I don’t think there’s many teams that have more than one. Typically, you’re going to find one guy that you want the ball in the hands of at the end of the game. That truly is the definition of who you want. On the other side of the bar here [points to the Thunder bench], there’s only one guy that you’d want the ball in the hands of.”

Bleacher Report shared that these comments did come at an interesting time. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times said why he thinks Mark Cuban might have made these comments right now. He said, “Wonder if Cuban is trying to get Westbrook to try and take more shots with that comment? Mind games?” It would be a great time to play mind games and get Westbrook upset before he plays against Mark Cuban’s team. During this last season, Westbrook averaged 23.5 points, 10.7 assists, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game, so it wasn’t a terrible season for him. That average is good enough that about any team out there would like to have Westbrook on their side.

Mark Cuban obviously doesn’t think that Russell Westbrook could be on a team that didn’t have another amazing player. With Kevin Durant by his side, the Oklahoma City Thunder is doing amazing. The big game tonight between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks will show if Mark Cuban’s comments did end up working as a bit of a head game and cause Westbrook not to play as well.

Are you shocked by what Mark Cuban had to say about the Oklahoma City Thunder players? Do you agree with him that Russell Westbrook isn’t a superstar? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts, and don’t miss watching the Oklahoma City Thunder play against the Dallas Mavericks.

[Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images]