Online Reporter
Triple-double king and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook announced his retirement after 18 seasons on Wednesday via social media.
“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end. You had to be there. And now it’s over,” Westbrook wrote on his social media post.
Westbrook’s decision was announced during a 3 1/2-minute video. He didn’t respond to any of the questions by the narrator but the theme made it clear Westbrook was leaving on his own terms.
At the end of the video, the screen read: “The greatest thing he left behind couldn’t fit inside a museum. It never had to be said.”
Westbrook, 37, recorded 209 triple-doubles, including a record 42 during his stellar 2016-17 MVP season. He averaged a career-high 31.6 points to go with 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists that season to become the first player since the legendary Oscar Robertson (1961-62) to average a triple-double over a full season.
A nine-time All-Star, he ranks fifth all-time in career assists (10,351) and 14th in scoring (27,176). Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times and scoring twice.
In 2021, Westbrook was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He was named All-Star Game MVP in consecutive seasons (2015, 2016) and won a gold medal with the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London.
He averaged 20.9 points, 8.0 assists and 6.9 rebounds in 1,301 regular-season games with seven franchises.
In 135 career playoff games, Westbrook averaged 22.5 points, 7.1 assists and 6.7 rebounds. Westbrook was selected fourth overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA Draft and the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City before his rookie season.
Westbrook spent 11 seasons with the franchise and teamed with Kevin Durant to make the Thunder one of the top teams in the NBA. Oklahoma City reached the NBA Finals in 2012 — when James Harden was also on the club — before losing to the Miami Heat.
Westbrook bounced around to five teams over his last six seasons. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 64 games (58 starts) for the Sacramento Kings last season.
Westbrook was a college star at UCLA before leaving for the NBA after two seasons. He was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. — Reuters.
