Russell Westbrook, the 2016-17 NBA MVP and one of only three players to average a triple-double for a season, announced his retirement Wednesday after 18 years.
The star point guard averaged 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game over his NBA career from 2008-26, during which he played for seven teams, most notably the Oklahoma City Thunder.
His 209 triple-doubles are the most in NBA regular-season history.
“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end,” Westbrook, 37, posted on social media, along with a retirement video narrated by Oscar-winning actor Michael B. Jordan.
“You had to be there. And now it’s over.”
Known for his elite athleticism and dazzling play-making, Westbrook spent his first 11 seasons with the Thunder, who drafted him out of UCLA with the No. 4 overall pick ahead of their inaugural season in Oklahoma City.
Westbrook was teammates with Kevin Durant for eight of those seasons, a pairing that resulted in a trip to the 2012 NBA Finals and three more berths in the Western Conference Finals.
While a championship eluded Westbrook, he retires as a nine-time All-Star, a two-time NBA scoring leader and a three-time NBA assists leader. He was part of the USA team that won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Westbrook won NBA MVP after a 2016-17 season in which he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game.
That was the first of four seasons in which Westbrook averaged a triple-double. The first three came consecutively.
The only other players to average a triple-double for a season were Oscar Robertson, who did it once, and Nikola Jokic, who has done it twice.
The 6-4 Westbrook also played for the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and — in what proved to be his final season in 2025-26 — Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook ranks 14th in NBA history in points (27,176) and fifth in assists (10,351).