OKC Thunder: Russell Westbrook Or Stephen Curry?

January 5, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) dribbles the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30, left) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 117-91. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

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Jan 24, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) hits Brooklyn Nets guard Donald Sloan (15) with the ball before going out of bounds during first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /

Playmaking

One of the most important attributes of a point guard is the ability for him to create opportunities for his teammates to score, which is something both of these players excel at.

Westbrook is annually among the league leaders in assists, and his decision-making has improved each year he has been in the NBA. According to basketball-reference.com, Westbrook’s assist percentage is at 48.4 percent this year, which means he is assisting on nearly half of his teammates’ field goals while on the floor.

Curry is capable of putting up these kinds of passing numbers, but has only been able to get 6.6 assists per game. His assist percentage is also considerably lower than Westbrook’s, standing at 33.7 percent. Draymond Green’s role in the Dubs’ offense skews Curry’s assist numbers a bit, since he facilitates a lot of the team’s opportunities to score.

However, both players have a very similar usage rate, and both have to coexist with other superstar-level offensive talents. Westbrook currently has a 33.2 usage percentage, which is an estimate of the percentage of a team’s plays are used by a given player while he is on the floor. Curry’s usage is only slightly lower, at 32.4 percent.

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