Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook showed up to his team’s NBA game against the Portland Trail Blazers wearing gear of NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch.
Ahead of Thursday night’s NBA game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook showed up to the arena wearing gear of 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.
The 30-year-old Long Beach, California native, who is known to show up to Thunder games wearing, for lack of a better word, “interesting” outfits, showed up to the Moda Center wearing an M&M’s NASCAR jacket.
Mars, Incorporated has served as Busch’s primary sponsor since he began driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2008 season, and their brands, including but not limited to Skittles, Snickers, Double Mint, Pedigree, and most iconically, M&M’s, have been represented on his #18 Toyota since that time.
In fact, Mars, Incorporated just signed a multi-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing to continue sponsoring the #18 Toyota of the 33-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native, who also signed a multi-year contract extension to continue driving the #18 Toyota.
Busch gave Westbrook a shoutout for his choice of apparel on Twitter.
Hey @russwest44 I like your style. @NBA | @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/IEM7SvJAyK
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) March 8, 2019
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The Thunder went on to win the game by a score of 129-121, breaking a tie with the Trail Blazers for third place in the Western Conference standings. The Thunder now sit in third in the conference with a record of 40-25 while the Trail Blazers dropped to fifth with a record of 39-26, as the Houston Rockets, who entered Thursday night involved in a three-way tie for third, still have a record of 39-25, as they did not play.
Westbrook has played in 56 of the Thunder’s 65 games so far this season, and he has averaged 35.8 minutes, 22.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 0.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game as he sets his sights on what would be his third consecutive season with a triple-double average. Oscar Robertson is the only other player to average a triple-double throughout an entire season in NBA history, and he did so just once in the 1961-1962 season.
Westbrook is currently shooting 42.4% from the field, 27.4% from beyond the three-point line and 65.0% from the free throw line.
Meanwhile, Busch has made six starts in NASCAR races so far this season, including three in the Cup Series, two in the Truck Series and one in the Xfinity Series. He has recorded finishes of second, sixth and third place, respectively, to open up the Cup Series season, and he has won all three of his Xfinity Series and Truck Series starts so far in 2019.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s next game is scheduled to take place tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET against the Los Angeles Clippers at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, is set to make two NASCAR starts at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona this weekend. He is set to compete in the Xfinity Series race, the iK9 Service Dog 200, at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 9 as well as the Cup Series race, the TicketGuardian 500, at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 10.