SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Russell Westbrook, the NBA’s career leader in triple-doubles and the league MVP for the 2016-17 season, announced his retirement from basketball Wednesday.
Westbrook played 18 seasons in the NBA, and he was selected to the league’s 75th anniversary team during that time. 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,” wrote Westbrook, who spent this past season with the Sacramento Kings, staring 58 of the 64 games he played and averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 assists. “You had to be there. And now it’s over.”
After three college seasons at UCLA, Westbrook was the No. 4 pick in the 2008 NBA draft, taken by the Seattle SuperSonics just before they moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder — the team he would play for over his first 11 seasons in the league. Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times and was a two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP, and he also won an Olympic gold medal while playing for the United States in the 2012 London Games.
Westbrook ends his NBA career with 209 triple-doubles, the last on March 15. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic ranks second in that category with 198 going into the 2026-27 season, which will be his 12th in the league. Westbrook also holds the NBA mark for most triple-doubles in a season with 42 in 2016-17.