Portland Trail Blazers: Is Damian Lillard better than Russell Westbrook this season?

The Portland Trail Blazers host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and the matchup at the point guard position will be fun to watch.

Tomorrow, a can’t-miss Western Conference battle takes place when the Portland Trail Blazers welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Moda Center and the marquee matchup will be at point guard, with Damian Lillard going up against Russell Westbrook.

After 38 games, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report believes that Damian Lillard should be an All-Star reserve this season:

"Damian Lillard is left to aim for reserve selections with so many backcourt megastars in the West. And it forever put him on the verge of getting snubbed entirely. (See: 2015-16 and 2016-17.)That won’t happen this year. Lillard is too good. He’s posting career highs in scoring and true shooting percentage without an uptick in usage. His finishing around the rim is a coin toss, but he’s making smarter reads in traffic and sporting mortal-Stephen-Curry touch on his pull-up jumper.Even with Portland’s peak-and-valley act alive and well, Lillard is more All-Star shoo-in than fringe candidate."

On the other hand, Russell Westbrook is having a sub-par season. Though averaging yet another triple-double, he is having one of the worst shooting seasons of his 11-year career. Many of his accuracy  numbers are either his lowest ever or lowest since the 2009-10 season, his second in the NBA.

After missing a game-winner with 1.7 seconds left in a 105-103 loss against the Dallas Mavericks on December 30, Westbrook said he’s been letting the Thunder down. He told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon:

"It’s really on me. I’ve been s— the last month or so"

Let’s dig into who’s been a better player this season, Lillard or Westbrook?

Damian Lillard

Regular season stats: 26.7 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.8 RPG, 0.9 SPG (38 games)

Russell Westbrook

Regular season stats: 20.7 PPG, 10.1 APG, 10.9 RPG, 2.7 SPG (29 games)

Comparison:

Damian Lillard is playing incredibly well but is he better than Russell Westbrook this season? We haven’t reached the All-Star break yet, so the sample size to truly evaluate players is small, but the numbers make it clear: Lillard is the better offensive player right now. With his points and assists combined, Lillard accounts for 32.5 points per game. Westbrook accounts for 30.8.

This season, Lillard has the better PER (24.06 vs. 20.05), more win shares (5.5 vs. 2.3) and superior real plus-minus (3.90 vs. 3.57) but Westbrook’s usage rate is higher than Lillard’s (33.3 vs. 30.7) and he averages more assists, rebounds and steals than him.

Lillard is the better scorer, averaging 6.0 points per game more than Westbrook and he is also taking better care of the ball than Westbrook, who is averaging 4.6 turnovers per game versus Lillard’s 2.7.

Despite his struggles with his shot, Westbrook doesn’t lack confidence, this is what he recently told Erik Horne of The Oklahoman:

"I’m the best rebounder at my position, the best passer at my position, the best defender at my position.If scoring ain’t it that night, then I get somebody else to do it."

Westbrook has an incredible all-around game, he’s not just a scorer and it’s very clear that he holds himself to a high standard in multiple facets, which makes him an excellent overall player. Lillard has been clutch all season long, there’s no real recipe to slow him down and he’s a better playmaker than he gets credit for.

Damian Lillard will need to be at his best at both ends of the floor to give the Trail Blazers a chance to beat the Thunder in an important game tomorrow night.