The NBA Awards Show on Monday night was an historic one as it was the first time the league had one. To cap off the event, commissioner Adam Silver announced the winner of the Kia MVP Award, which was given to Oklahoma City Thunder star guard Russell Westbrook for the incredible season he had.
He received a plethora of congratulatory messages on social media, including from his fans, friends, family and fellow players. Even his former college teammate and current Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love took to his Twitter account to honor him for his achievement.
The two played together in UCLA almost a decade ago. They led the team to a Final Four appearance before both of them declared for the draft in 2008. They were taken back-to-back with the fourth and fifth picks, respectively, which was the first time in school history their players were selected consecutively in the draft.
Despite playing in different conferences, the two have remained good friends and even tweet one another from time to time. It’s also very nice to see that Love wishes him well for the award he won and the superb year he had, where he became the first player in 55 years to average a triple-double through the entire regular season, and recorded the most triple-doubles in a single season in league history.