SACRAMENTO — Russell Westbrook, the NBA’s career leader in triple-doubles and the 2017 MVP, announced Wednesday he’s retiring after 18 seasons during which he was selected to the league’s 75th anniversary team.
The two-time scoring champion shared his decision on social media in a post featuring a video narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan where the guard never says a word.
“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end,” Westbrook wrote. “You had to be there. And now it’s over.”
Westbrook was the No. 4 pick in 2008 out of UCLA by the Seattle SuperSonics, just before they moved to Oklahoma City. He played his first 11 seasons with the Thunder and spent this past season with the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook is a Long Beach native, grew up in Hawthorne and played for Leuzinger High School before going to UCLA where he played two years, helping the Bruins reach the Final Four both seasons. At Leuzinger, he averaged 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals, and 2.3 assists and helped lead the team to a 25–4 record as a senior.
Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times and was a two-time MVP of the All-Star Game. He won an Olympic gold medal in the 2012 London Games.
Westbrook leaves with 209 triple-doubles, the last on March 15. Nikola Jokic ranks second in that category with 198 going into this season. Westbrook also holds the NBA mark for most triple-doubles in a season with 42 in 2016-17, when he earned his only MVP award. He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.6 assists during his MVP campaign, the first player to average a triple double since Oscar Robinson in 1962, and second player ever to accomplish the feat. He also averaged a triple double in three of the next four seasons.
He averaged double figures for points and assists in five of six seasons starting in the 2015-16 season.
Westbrook also played for Houston, Washington, the Lakers and Clippers — splitting the 2022-23 season between the Los Angeles teams and Denver.
Last season, Westbrook started 58 of the 64 games he played for Sacramento. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 assists.