Russell Westbrook. Image via: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images
Russell Westbrook, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2017 NBA MVP, announced his retirement from professional basketball on Wednesday, closing an 18-year career built on relentless energy and a refusal to be told what he couldn’t do. Westbrook’s signature achievement arrived during the 2016-17 season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, when he averaged a triple-double across an entire year and won NBA MVP. He set the single-season triple-double record with 42, a number matched only by Oscar Robertson and Nikola Jokić. He averaged a triple-double in four separate seasons and once strung together 11 straight triple-doubles between January and February of 2019.
He shared the news on X, writing, “Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end. ” The announcement ends a run that took Westbrook through seven franchises, including both hometown teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers. He finishes 14th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and fifth in assists, a resume built on triple-doubles, tunnel-walk fashion statements and a community footprint that outlasted every box score. Here’s the incredible story of NBA legend Russell Westbrook.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti has told the story of showing up 30 minutes ahead of a pre-draft workout only to find Westbrook already waiting in the parking lot. ” By May 2021, Westbrook had passed Robertson’s career triple-double mark altogether. He finished with 209, an NBA record. He retires 14th in career scoring with 27,176 points and fifth in assists with 10,351. Westbrook helped the United States win gold at the 2010 FIBA World Cup, then did it again at the 2012 London Olympics, where Team USA went 8-0 and beat Spain 107-100 in the final. He averaged 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in just over 16 minutes a game in London, with his defensive pressure, 1.2 steals a night, doing as much damage as his scoring.
In a 2015 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Westbrook said he called his parents “before every game,” adding, “Sometimes it may not be about basketball, sometimes it just may be about random things. “You’re passionate about something, I’m passionate about something,” he said, adding that fashion is something he takes as seriously as anyone takes their own craft. Even away from campus, Westbrook carried the habits of a kid who had to earn everything. He is famously early to every team obligation, sometimes by two or three hours. Family stayed central throughout. Along the way he collected nine All-NBA selections, two scoring titles, three assist titles and two All-Star Game MVPs, and he was named to the league’s 75th Anniversary Team. The international résumé matches the domestic one. Westbrook’s tunnel walks turned NBA arrivals into runway moments long before it became standard practice around the league. In a joint GQ interview with longtime friend James Harden, Westbrook framed the whole approach as a matter of conviction rather than costume.
