Dallas Mavericks guard Monta Ellis (11) drives to the basket as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) defends during the first half of play on Monday, March 16, 2015, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Vernon Bryant/Dallas Morning News/TNS)
When you think of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who do you think of first? Which mega star jumps to your mind first and foremost?
The answer to that question, for many years since the franchise moved from Seattle to the center of the continental U.S., has been undeniably Kevin Durant.
As injuries keep him off the floor, long-heralded second fiddle Russell Westbrook has people rethinking the power structure in OKC.
We've all known about Westbrook for a while now. The score-first, ask questions later point guard has been sending league traditionalists into a tizzy for nearly five seasons, casting out the old-time stereotype that point guards pass and that's all.
In the absence of Durant, Westbrook has been rattling off a season to remember, one that should garner him serious MVP consideration. Sunday night, he put together his 10th triple-double of the season, an absurdly high tally.
The problem is that this rise coincides with the approaching fall of the Thunder as we know them.
Durant is scheduled to hit free agency after next year, coinciding with an expected bump in the salary cap the likes of which we've never seen.
While there is a chance he re-signs with the team, fans of the Thunder should, wisely, brace themselves for life without him.
Westbrook, with his undeniable talent to score, rebound and pass the rock, is showing that such a life wouldn't be so bad.
Sure the Thunder are barely clinging to the eighth seed in a stacked Western Conference, sure they're almost assuredly a first-round one-and-done playoff team as they're currently constructed, but when you consider the fact that they got off to an uncharacteristically slow start without Westbrook and Durant, that all makes more sense.
In sports we seek out clearly defined roles. When things change or don't fit those roles, fans and critics are quick to jump for the throat.
In the NFL we've seen tons of changes over the past decade or so. Run-and-gun offenses, the flash in the pan that was the Wildcat formation, these hybrid linebacker-defensive lineman pass rushers teams are so crazy about. The list goes on.
In the NBA, things are less likely to change. Offensively, you've got your ground and pound teams built around big men and floor-spacers or your blazing fast seven seconds or less kinds of teams or the teams who pass until either the shot clock goes off or someone finds an open look.
Westbrook, though, is an offense unto himself. Give him the ball and teams simply don't know what could happen.
He could score 50 or more through any variety of ways, he could hoist up a dozen shots then grab the rebound for every one of them, or he could cork off a few no-look passes and rack up dazzling assist numbers as he did on Sunday (17, to match a career-high).
Durant, for all his talent, can't do that. You mostly know what you expect when he has the ball.
That's not to say you can stop him. You know what you're getting when a train barrels down the tracks at you but that doesn't mean you can change the outcome.
Westbrook's Herculean effort to lead this team on his own in an era of two or three superstars per starting five, is not only historic, but illuminating for fans of the orange and blue.
If he keeps this up, it won't matter if Durant bolts for sunny Los Angeles, the mecca of New York City or his hometown Washington, D.C. The mask-wearing, defense-destroying, triple-double machine new-age point guard will make sure the Thunder survive.
Reach the columnist at icbeck@asu.edu or follow @ICBeck21 on Twitter.
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