The procession to the Most Valuable Player was always destined to end up at the Westbrook stop. The fiery, ultra-competitive Oklahoma City Thunder guard entered the 2016/17 season like a man on a mission. Maybe snagging the MVP award was on his to-do list, maybe not; one thing was sure – Westbrook was determined he wasn’t going to mourn the departure of his long-time friend and teammate, Kevin Durant, who (abruptly) departed the tornado country, leaving a devastated franchise behind. Russ wasn’t going to hang his head and bemoan his fate, and he wasn’t going to allow his team mates feel KD’s absence either. He had too much fire in his belly. He had to prove a point. And he was going to let the League, and the world know it.

And prove it Westbrook did, by bringing a level of energy that shocked many, even within the Thunder organisation, starting with the gritty, intense win on opening day at Philadelphia over the 76ers. By the end of November, Russ was averaging a triple-double, fuelled by a seven-game run of triple-doubles. From that point, the California native probably saw the possibility of a triple-double season, but there was still work to be done. And work, he did. Westbrook not only ended up tallying a triple-double season; he had a record 42 games of triple-doubles. That’s more than half the number of games in an 82-game NBA season. Long after his season triple-double average was guaranteed, Westbrook kept racking up the golden statistics.

And so, the story of the 2016/17 season will be told of two former teammates that hogged the headlines: one that put on a show throughout the season, and was named the best player in the world, and one that endured criticism, battled an injury, and wowed the planet at the biggest stage of all, the NBA Finals.

But the story of the 2016/17 NBA season will not be complete without the contribution of African stars who also graced the League. Giannis Antetokounmpo went from a 16.9 points-per-game average last season to a 22.9 ppg average this season without playing more minutes. The rangy Greek, born of Nigerian parents, redefined his game from being just a forward to a genius ‘point forward’, and shouldered the Milwaukee Bucks into the playoffs. The Greek Freak went from an average NBA player to an All-Star superstar, and bulldozed his way into the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, All-NBA Second Team, garnered 80 of a possible 95 first-place votes, and was rightly named the Most Improved Player.

Antetokounmpo, in that one season, with that singular award, confirmed his place as a future African great of the game: he became only the fifth international player to win the award since it started in the 1985/86 season, the first player out of Africa to win it, and the first player in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise to cart home the award.

Next season, it just might be the turn of Joel Embiid. The Cameroonian center missed being named Rookie of the Year, simply because his season was ravaged by injuries. He was chugging along nicely, deftly pocketing the Rookie of the Month honors month after month, until injuries put him out for the season. Still, the three Rookie of the Month awards he picked up between November and January, were the most by any rookie in the League this season. Dario Saric (who won the award for the Eastern Conference in February and March) and Buddy Hield (who was named winner in the Western Conference for the months of December and March) were the others with more than one win.

Who knows what would have been, had Embiid managed to stay healthy? A place in the All-Star Game? A sweep of the votes for Rookie of the Year honors? A place in one of the All-NBA teams? We will never know. But what we do know, is this: if Embiid stays healthy throughout next season as projected by the Sixers, the odds of the Cameroon native getting back in the All-Star conversation, and following Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Most Improved Player win, are real.

Andre Iguodala came out of the shadows two seasons ago, when he picked the biggest stage of all to show his worth to the Golden State Warriors— he came off the bench in the playoffs and was named Finals MVP. He showed his worth again this season, when he saved his best for last, helping the Warriors win Game 5 of the NBA Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers with 20 points in 38 minutes.

Nigerian-American Iguodala came second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting behind Eric Gordon of Houston Rockets, totalling 326 votes (43 1st place) to Gordon’s 358 (46 1st place). Iggy didn’t start a single game for the Warriors all season, but he played 26.3 minutes per game, and contributed gritty defense as well as 7.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 3.4 apg averages.