Russell Westbrook announces retirement after 18-season NBA career
Westbrook calls time on an 18-season career
Russell Westbrook has announced he is retiring from professional basketball, ending an 18-year run in the NBA. The 37-year-old guard wrapped up his playing days with the Sacramento Kings, posting averages of 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds across 64 games in his final season.
Drafted fourth overall in 2008, Westbrook spent the first 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City franchise, becoming its defining player after Kevin Durant left. Over the years he also suited up for Houston, Washington, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers, the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento.
What he leaves behind
Westbrook’s name will forever be tied to the triple-double. His landmark 2016–17 campaign — when he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists and posted 42 triple-doubles — earned him the NBA MVP award and shattered the single-season triple-double mark.
He averaged a triple-double in four different seasons, becoming the first player to do that since Oscar Robertson, and he finished his career with 209 regular-season triple-doubles. His résumé also includes nine All-Star nods, nine All-NBA selections, two scoring titles, three assists titles, and two All-Star Game MVP awards.
Westbrook made an NBA Finals appearance in 2012 with Oklahoma City, though a league title eluded him. He did find international success, winning Olympic gold with Team USA in 2012 and the FIBA World Championship in 2010, and was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
In his final season he climbed into fifth place on the NBA’s all-time assists list and became the first guard to eclipse 9,000 career rebounds. After a summer of uncertainty and speculation about his future, he ultimately decided to step away from playing.
