Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Former NBA Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook, the league’s triple-double king, has “decided to step away” after 18 seasons in the league. The 37-year-old point guard posted an enigmatic farewell video narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan and captioned: “You had to be there. And now it’s over.” Westbrook doesn’t speak in the video, which shows him watching some of his own career highlights and contemplating blueprints for the future. “Now that you decided to step away from everything, on your own terms, what are you most proud of?” the narrator asks. “He didn’t say a word, and somehow I understood everything.”
Westbrook, a nine-time NBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medallist, twice led the league in scoring. He spent 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, teaming with Kevin Durant and James Harden to win the Western Conference title in 2012 before falling to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. He earned MVP honors with the Thunder in 2017. That season, he broke Oscar Robertson’s venerable record for triple-doubles in a regular season, amassing 42 games with double-digit totals in three key statistical categories.
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Robertson’s record of 41 triple-doubles had stood since the 1961-62 campaign, and Westbrook broke it in spectacular fashion on April 9, 2017, with his third 50-point triple-double of that season. He holds the NBA record for most career triple-doubles with 209, having surpassed Robertson’s long-standing mark with his 182nd in 2021. He is one of only three players in NBA history, along with Robertson and Denver star Nikola Jokic, to average a triple-double over a season. Westbrook has done it in four campaigns.
Since departing Oklahoma City, Westbrook had played for the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, and Denver Nuggets before signing a one-year deal with Sacramento last season. He averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals with the Kings but had remained unsigned as a free agent. In a recent appearance on CNN to discuss his philanthropic work, Westbrook—who averaged 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game over his career—was asked about the fact that he hadn’t yet been signed.
“I don’t think about it, honestly,” he said. “I love playing basketball, and if it happens, it works, and that’s my plan.”
© 2024 AFP
