{"id":6712,"date":"2026-08-13T06:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6712"},"modified":"2026-08-13T06:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:06:39","slug":"longtime-warriors-nemesis-russell-westbrook-retires-from-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6712","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Warriors nemesis Russell Westbrook retires from NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Russell Westbrook, the NBA\u2019s career leader in triple-doubles and the 2017 MVP, announced Wednesday he\u2019s retiring after 18 seasons during which he was selected to the league\u2019s 75th anniversary team.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6710\">OPD releases video footage of fatal mid-July police shooting in Fruitvale<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The two-time scoring champion shared his decision on social media in a post featuring a video narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan in which the guard never says a word.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes you don\u2019t even know when you\u2019ve already watched the end,\u201d Westbrook wrote. \u201cYou had to be there. And now it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>He had plenty of regular-season battles with Steph Curry and the Warriors but only faced them once in the playoffs: 2016, when Golden State came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Westbrook\u2019s struggles were key in that Warriors\u2019 comeback, as he made just 28 of 76 field-goal attempts over the final three games. He averaged 20.3 points, 7.1 assists and 7.6 rebounds in 56 career regular-season games against the Warriors.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6708\">Valkyries injuries present Stanford alum Fingall with unexpected birthday opportunity<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sometimes you don\u2019t even know when you\u2019ve already watched the end.<\/p>\n<p>You had to be there. And now it\u2019s over. pic.twitter.com\/6YoOW8WyIV<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) August 12, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>He averaged double figures for points and assists in five of six seasons starting in the 2015-16 season.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Westbrook also played for Houston, Washington, the Lakers and Clippers \u2014 splitting the 2022-23 season between the Los Angeles teams and Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Westbrook started 58 of the 64 games he played for Sacramento. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 assists.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6706\">Valkyries instant analysis:\u00a0Tiffany Hayes lights up Sky in fifth consecutive victory<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He had plenty of regular-season battles with Steph Curry and the Warriors but only faced them once in the playoffs: 2016, when Golden State came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Thunder in the Western Conference finals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Longtime Warriors nemesis Russell Westbrook retires from NBA - 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