Russell Westbrook announces NBA retirement after 18 seasons

Triple-double king and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook ‌announced his retirement after 18 seasons on Wednesday via social media.

“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already ⁠watched the end. You ⁠had to be there. And now it’s over,” Westbrook wrote on his social media post.

Westbrook’s decision was announced during a three-and-a-half-minute video. He didn’t respond to any of the questions by the ⁠narrator, but the theme made it clear Westbrook was leaving on his own terms.

At the end of the video, the screen read: “The greatest thing he left behind couldn’t fit inside a museum. It never had to be said.”

Westbrook, 37, ⁠recorded 209 triple-doubles, including a record 42 during his stellar 2016-17 Most Valuable Player (MVP) season. He averaged a career-high 31.6 points to go with 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists that season to become the first player since the legendary Oscar Robertson (1961-62) to average a triple-double over a full season.

A nine-time All-Star, he ranks fifth all-time in career assists (10,351) and 14th in scoring (27,176). Westbrook led the NBA ‌in assists three times and scoring twice.

In 2021, Westbrook was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He was named All-Star Game MVP in consecutive seasons (2015, 2016) and won a gold medal with the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London.

He averaged 20.9 points, 8.0 assists and 6.9 rebounds in 1,301 regular-season games with seven franchises.