Former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook is entering his 18th season. He’s spent the last eight years traveling from team to team, and now joins his seventh team in eight years after signing a deal with the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook spent the 2024-25 NBA season with the Denver Nuggets, helping the team to an appearance in the Western Conference semifinals before falling to the eventual NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although he is not the dominant triple-double machine he used to be, Westbrook has played a vital role on several teams since leaving Oklahoma City. In fact, despite playing on six different teams the last seven years, Westbrook’s teams have reached the playoffs six times in those seven years, only failing in the 2021-22 season, when Westbrook was with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The past two years, Westbrook has played a vital role coming off the bench for both the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers, even receiving Sixth Man of the Year votes in both campaigns.
Russell Westbrook stats
Last year, Westbrook started 36 games for the Nuggets, averaging 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds off the bench.
His 32.3% three-point percentage was his highest since his MVP season in 2017.
Sacramento Kings outlook
The Sacramento Kings needed an upgrade at point guard this offseason and did just that by acquiring both Dennis Schroder and now Russell Westbrook.
The team has finished ninth in the Western Conference each of the last two seasons and is looking to break out of the play-in bubble they’ve been stuck in.
While the team is considerably top-heavy, mostly relying on the skills of DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis, and Zach LaVine, the depth they have added in Westbrook should take a considerable load off their top-three.