After playing for 18 seasons, 37 years old NBA point guard Russell Westbrook announced retirement yesterday. Westbrook has had a career full of milestones, but with all the triple –doubles, one cannot erase the fact that despite his fame he has never won an NBA championship. Westbrook’s retirement announcement was narrated by actor Michael B Jordan in a 3.5 minutes video. He revisited his career and the speech reflected on how Westbrook wanted to end the game on his own terms. Then what makes Westbrook one of the most historic players of all time?
The basketball player was born in California and is known for his 209 triple-double record in NBA history. He started out in 2008 and till 2019 played with the Oklahoma City Thunder alongside Kevin Durant and James Harden. His most historic season was 2016-17 where he created a record breaking 42 triple doubles in just one season. From 2019-2020 he played with the Houston Rockets where he was reunited with former team-mate James Harden. In 2020-21 he was with the Washington Wizards where he surpassed another legendary NBA player Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record.
From 2021-2023 he was part of the unbreakable trio with LeBron James and Anthony Davis at the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2023-2024 he joined the Los Angeles Clippers and started playing as a veteran alongside newer members of the field. He continued his veteran role from 2024-2025 in Denver Nuggets. His final team change was in 2025 when he signed up with Sacramento Kings, a team he played with till he announced retirement. Interestingly, he signed up for a No.18 jersey here representing the number of seasons he had played in life.
From among his several achievements one of the most notable ones other than his triple double was that he was part of the basketball team in London Olympics (2012) which won gold. To sum up, he ended his streak becoming 14th in the NBA scoring and 5th in assists. Throughout his career he had a remarkable 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game.
Glancing at his family
Russell is married to Nina Westbrook and together the couple has three children – Noah Russell, Skye and Jordan. One of the most important factors that continued to influence his career was losing his best friend Khelcey Barrs and he honours his memory by wearing the KB3 bracelet.
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