Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, right, stands with Oscar Robertson, left, during a ceremony to honor on his triple-double record before an NBA basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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As a freshman at UCLA in the 2006-07 season, Russell Westbrook averaged 3.4 points and fewer than one rebound and one assist in nine minutes per game. Back then, no one could have predicted what was to come, as Westbrook emerged as one of the best players in the NBA and a shoo-in Hall of Famer.
On Wednesday, Westbrook announced his retirement, three months shy of his 38th birthday. Although Westbrook didn’t win a championship, he made nine All-NBA teams, won the Most Valuable Player award in 2017 and finished as the all-time leader with 209 triple-doubles, a record that once seemed would never be broken.
Oscar Robertson, a Hall of Fame guard, held the triple-doubles record for more than 45 years before Westbrook surpassed him in May 2021. Westbrook’s mark, though, may not last much longer, as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has 198 triple-doubles. Jokic has averaged a triple-double in each of the past two seasons, so he should surpass Westbrook this season as long as he stays healthy.
Still, that is not to diminish what Westbrook accomplished. During the 2016-17 season, Westbrook averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game, becoming the first player since Robertson in the 1961-62 season to average a triple-double. Westbrook averaged a triple-double three more times in his career, too. He joins Robertson and Jokic as the only players to average a triple-double in a season.
Early in his career, Westbrook played alongside fellow future Hall of Famers Kevin Durant and James Harden with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The trio led the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012, where they lost to the Miami Heat in five games. The future looked bright, as Harden was 22 years old, while Westbrook and Durant were each 23. But that October, the Thunder traded Harden to the Houston Rockets.
OKC finished first in its division in three of the next four seasons and made the Western Conference finals twice, but the Thunder didn’t make it back to league finals. In July 2016, Durant signed as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors. Three years later, the Thunder traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, two first round draft picks and two pick swaps, moving on from a franchise legend.
Westbrook made third team All-NBA with the Rockets, where he reunited with Harden. But he only lasted one season in Houston, as the team traded him to the Washington Wizards. Westbrook was later dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers and signed deals with the Los Angeles Clippers, Nuggets and Sacramento Kings.
Since leaving the Thunder, Westbrook became more of a role player, finishing in the top 10 of the sixth man of the year voting in the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. But he won only two playoff series in the past decade.
Westbrook spent last season with the Kings, averaging 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game and starting in 58 of the 64 games he played. The Kings and Wizards offered him contracts recently, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Instead, Westbrook chose to retire.
Westbrook finished his NBA career with 27,176 points, more than any point guard in league history and 14th all-time among all players. He was also fifth all-time with 10,351 career assists and 24th with 1,301 regular season games played.
Although he never won a championship and played for six franchises since 2020, Westbrook leaves as among the most relentless and accomplished guards ever. Twenty years after barely playing in college, he is certain to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, his legacy secure for generations to come.