It appears that a reunion between the Sacramento Kings and Russell Westbrook won’t happen after all, as the future Hall of Famer has decided to call it a career after 18 seasons.
Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end.
You had to be there. And now it’s over. pic.twitter.com/6YoOW8WyIV
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) August 12, 2026
Westbrook spent his final season with the Sacramento Kings where he suited up for 64 games and averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds. It’s a testament to Westbrook’s ability to do a little bit of everything that even in his short stint here at the very end of his career, he managed to place 7th in the franchise-era Triple-Double leaderboard, and 3rd if you count just the Sacramento-era. Westbrook is of course the league’s all time leader in triple-doubles with 209 over his illustrious career.
Westbrook is the first player to ever have multiple seasons averaging a triple-double (four times), made 9 All-Star teams and was awarded the 2016-17 NBA MVP award. He was also named to the NBA 75th anniversary team as one of the 75 best players of all time. While Westbrook never managed to win a championship, he had about as good of a career as you can otherwise have and will likely leave a long-lasting legacy, of which Sacramento will be a small part.
I’ve always loved Russ as a player, just not for this team. Glad he thwarted Perry and Vivek’s stupidity by retiring before they could try to bring him back.
One of the all-time greats who was a class act and brought it every time he stepped on the floor.
Would love to see him unretire during the season and join a contender as a bench piece and add a ship to his career accolades.
I still remember how wild it was the beginning of last season seeing him in a Kings uniform. Congrats on one of the all-time great careers.
HOF career! Good luck in whatever you do next Russ
Loved his tenacity and energy. I went bonkers whenever he would make unforced errors.
On the other hand, does this mean Victor Oladipo or Ben Simmons is our future Acuff mentor?
That’s what I was thinking. Oladipo incoming.
Put me in the camp that, if forced to, I’d rather kick the tires on Simmons than on Dipo.
Would prefer Aaron Holiday or even Lonzo Ball as the 3rd PG/vet mentor
Someone is going to be added eventually. Kings are one of 7 teams that need to add a player by the start of the season. Conversely there are 11 teams that need to cut one or more players to get to 16 on the roster. I wonder what the delay is? Maybe everyone is waiting for the Kawhi situation to resolve?
I do know a bunch of players that were traded over the past few months can’t be aggregated in trades until mid-September. Memphis, who is sitting at 19 guaranteed contracts has 5 of those kind of guys. D’Angelo Russell, a likely decent backup PG, is one of those guys and Memphis has made it clear they want to move off of him. Also, As I’ve said numerous times, don’t count out the Hornets who are at 17 rostered players and will have a bunch of smaller contracts to package.
I agree about the glut of players, especially Gs, on Memphis.
I have been pining for Javon Small since last year’s draft as he seems to be a near perfect backup PG. He was only a 2nd round pick and he’s on a two-way, so I think he’s fairly “gettable”.
Russ is even leading in retirement. He saved Vivek and his nice but not very good coach from stunting every young guard on the team in an effort to stay out of the bottom three.
They’re still going to pursue Klay Thompson, Mike Conley and Chris Paul, but that’s not Russ’s fault. You’ll know Perry has lost the keys when they trade for Thompson.
I never understood the hatred for Russ. The guy always played his heart out, with a giant chip on his shoulder. A bit abrasive on the court, but considered a good teammate and never had an issue of it.
Having said that, I really disliked his season here, chasing stats and just looking out for himself. But I guess weak leadership (hi Christie, Perry) allowed him to run the asylum.
Personally I had much more respect for the way Vince Carter played here, really trying to be a team guy, work hard on both sides of the court and be a true example. And I never liked VC in his heyday…
I loved the way Russ played the game-Just full on, all the time. Indeed, when he signed here my thought was that it would give me a reason to watch the season. Alas, that turned out not to be true. The combination of him and DDR on this team just destroyed any concept of real team basketball, making it completely unwatchable. I watched fewer Kings games last year than any year since they moved here, I think. Russ is a HOF player with true grit and seems like a great teammate, and I will always respect him for his unbridled effort, but I’m glad he is not resigning here.
I know Doug doesn’t get much love here as a coach, but my grade on him is incomplete. With Russ and DDR on this team it was always literally going to be un-coachable. Again, both seem like good teammates off the court, but on the court neither seemed able to change their style even a little bit for the team (wherever they played, actually), which just left 5 guys running around the court pretty aimlessly trying to “read and react” to what they were doing. I’m not a basketball coach and have never played anything but playground ball, but even I know that it doesn’t matter how talented you are if you’re not playing as a team. Doug’s coaching couldn’t make a difference, and it’s my thought is that even Pop himself couldn’t have done anything with this group. (Remember, Pop gave up on DDR for a bag of chips back in the day).
So, with DDR and Russ going on to their next steps in life, I’m feeling…oh my god…a little optimistic? People seem to forget that Sabonis, Keegan, and LaVine are actually all really pretty good basketball players (leaving contracts out of the conversation), and they never played on the court together. Also undersold, I think, is LaVine had his best basketball season after DDR left the Bulls, and he’s in a contract year. And as I look at the roster today I see a bunch of dudes who are capable of being great teammates on the floor. Hopefully Acoff turns out to be the guy we hope he is, but even 70% of that is better than any point guard play we got last year. Sure, I’m worried about the defense (as always!) and the lack of a true back up point guard (please sign a younger guy-“mentorship” is way oversold).
I’ll be interested to see how Doug coaches this group. I don’t think they’re making the playoffs, but if I were a betting man I’d definitely bet the over on 21.5 wins, even if Doug really isn’t a great coach. I can root for a losing team that’s at least trying to win or lose as a team, and I think Doug can get them there. I sure hope so, ‘cuz I miss watching actual Kings team basketball.
I’m right there with you. I actually watched quite a few games last year but mostly with a feeling of resignation about the impending loss and a feeling of annoyance at the iso ball. Individually, Russ and DDR were excellent individual contributors but really didn’t do a whole lot to improve the team overall. I would take the over this year as well, but I don’t think this team’s going to be all that good. If they’re healthy, they would have to be better than last year just by virtue of eliminating the poor defense of those two guys and adding a true point guard to mix that includes contributions from Sabonis, LaVine, and Keegan. That said, there are going to be a lot of growing pains this year.
Either way, I imagine watching more games this season and expect to see a lot of the younger players on the floor. Wish I could get a little more excited about Nique and Karaban (hope they both surprise me), but I’m definitely looking forward to watching Acuff, Max, Cardwell, and Sharp.
Undeniable talent, amazing athleticism, and had that dawg in him. Westbrook had an incredible HOF worthy career.
Wish him the best in whatever he wants to do next.
Badge Legend