Sean Barnard breaks down the Sacramento Kings’ addition of Russell Westbrook and whether he changes their postseason outlook.

With the NBA season just a week away, Russell Westbrook has finally landed on a roster. The Sacramento Kings have agreed to a deal with the former MVP as he enters his 18th season in the league.

BREAKING: Nine-time NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook has agreed on a deal to sign with the Sacramento Kings, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management tells ESPN. The 2017 league MVP enters his 18th NBA season. pic.twitter.com/Y0SrfKJrcf

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 15, 2025

It has been a fall from grace for the nine-time All-Star. Westbrook is one of the more dominant players of this era but has struggled to remain effective in roles with scaled-down usage. After spending the first 11 years of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook has spent time with the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Denver Nuggets, all since the 2019-20 season.

Kings Playoff Odds:

Looking at the futures market on DraftKings Sportsbook, the Kings hold a season-long win total of 35.5, with the over favored at -120 odds.

Sacramento holds +145 odds of participating in the play-in tournament, +350 odds of making the NBA playoffs, +25,000 odds of winning the Western Conference, and +50,000 odds of winning the NBA Championship.

They are coming off a 40-42 season last year and were eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the opening play-in matchup after finishing the season with the ninth seed in the Western Conference. The Kings have won 40+ games in three consecutive seasons and made it to the opening round of the playoffs in the 2022-23 season.

Does Russell Westbrook Change Sacramento’s Outlook?

Westbrook played 76 games for the Nuggets last season. He averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds across his 27.9 minutes per game. He has finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting in back-to-back seasons and posts career averages of 21.2 points, 8.0 assists, and 7.0 rebounds.

Furthermore, he will join a Kings roster headlined by Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Malik Monk. Sacramento also brought in Dennis Schroder this offseason and has done an impressive job collecting some intriguing young talent, headlined by Keegan Murray, Devin Carter, Keon Ellis, Nique Clifford, and Maxime Raynaud.

The bigger problem when evaluating the Kings’ outlook is the overall strength of the Western Conference. Oklahoma City is at the start of a potential dynasty with a young core that is only getting better. The Denver Nuggets have re-tooled around Nikola Jokic, and the Houston Rockets added Kevin Durant to their youthful foundation. San Antonio added Dylan Harper as a potential building block and Victor Wembanyama is back to full health, while you cannot count out teams like the Clippers, Lakers, Timberwolves, Warriors, Mavericks, and Grizzlies. Each of these teams mentioned holds better odds on DraftKings compared to the Kings.

It will be a bloodbath across the Western Conference all season. Count on Westbrook bringing a spark of energy and toughness for this Kings team and helping to elevate their floor. But it is also tough to talk yourself into the Kings making any sort of leap above some of the previously mentioned teams. The LaVine and DeRozan backcourt pairing did not produce much team success in a weaker Eastern Conference with the Bulls and has shown similar results in Sacramento thus far. Sabonis has shown his limitations when asked to do too much and was vocal about his frustrations with the direction of the team last year. Malik Monk has also been a frequent name to pop up in trade rumors. Individually, each of these names has some significant talent. But they do not fit together in a cohesive way that brings about success in the NBA, the way that plenty of other Western Conference teams have been built.

Expect Westbrook’s level of intensity to shake things up in Sacramento to an extent. But it would take some unfortunate luck from the teams ahead of them for a true pathway to the postseason to pop up. Count on the Kings being a frisky team on a night-to-night basis and an intriguing League Pass roster. Nonetheless, this version of Russell Westbrook unfortunately does not sway the outlook for a team in the way he once did.