How the mighty have fallen.
Former 2017 league MVP point guard Russell Westbrook has received a surprise update on his new free agent deal with the Sacramento Kings.
The 6-foot-4 UCLA product, who turns 37 next month, declined his $3.47 million player option player option on what would have been a contending Denver Nuggets team in 2025-26, and ultimately agreed to a one-year, $3.63 million free agent contract with the Kings with Sacramento well into training camp.
Sources have informed Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that Westbrook’s agreement is non-guaranteed.
That means the first half of the 2025-26 season is effectively a “prove-it” run for the former nine-time All-NBA honoree. Westbrook’s fit next to two other, younger Kings point guards with more upside, newly-signed starter Dennis Schröder and former Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk, could prove awkward.
Westbrook doesn’t really need to ever play again, whether or not he gets the entirety of his money this year. Even ahead of this season, he has earned $345.9 million purely on the court, and likely a massive haul off of it.
Westbrook is a fascinating, still-talented player, but as he’s aged his flaws have only become that much more pronounced. He’s never been a great shooter or defender, but prefers to operate with the ball in his hands, and often panics and makes costly mental mistakes at ends of games. Still, he’s hyper-athletic, a great distributor and an excellent rebounder for his size, and never takes a second off.
He enjoyed massive success with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2008-19, ultimately averaging three straight 22-point-plus triple-doubles from during his final three seasons on the roster, winning his MVP after averaging a 31.6-point, 10.7-rebound, 10.4-assist triple-double in 81 games for the 47-35 Thunder. Westbrook helped push Oklahoma City to an NBA Finals berth alongside fellow future MVPs Kevin Durant and James Harden in 2012, and also brought the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals in 2011, ’14, and ’16.
Eventually, he allowed a 2019 offseason trade to the Houston Rockets, where he was once again paired up with Harden and bested their former team in the first round of the 2020 playoffs - before getting obliterated by the eventual-champion Los Angeles Lakers in the next round. With his athleticism regressing, Westbrook became something of a journeyman in the ensuing seasons. He was traded to the Washington Wizards the subsequent summer, then to the Los Angeles Lakers the following offseason.
His ill-fated Lakers tenure ended with a midseason trade to the Utah Jazz, but he negotiated a contract buyout before playing a single game there. Westbrook, a Long Beach native, latched on with his other hometown team, the LA Clippers, to finish out the 2022-23 season. After an ill-fated playoff run with LA in 2024, he signed a one-plus-one deal to serve as Jamal Murray’s backup on the Nuggets, and redeemed himself in a solid postseason run last spring.
Last year with the 50-32 Nuggets, Westbrook averaged 13.3 points on .449/.323/.661 shooting splits, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks in 75 contests (36 starts). That’s the kind of production Sacramento can reasonably expect, although questions abound about his fit on a roster bereft of defenders.
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