Russell Westbrook has exited Denver after a rollercoaster year with the Nuggets. The former MVP has joined the Sacramento Kings on a one-year deal for his 18th season in the NBA, according to ESPN.

Westbrook opted out of his contract with the Nuggets in June. But some still had hope that he would end up back in Colorado. There were still a few ways the former MVP could run it back for another season with the Nuggets, using the team’s final open roster spot.

Not only is Westbrook not a Nugget, but he struggled to find a home until Wednesday. Now he joins a Kings team that is in flux and he will likely play a big role in attempting to get them back into the playoffs. He has a Hall of Fame future and box scores from last season that show his talent is still there, but it’s no surprise to those who paid close attention to his career the last few seasons that he struggled to find work and isn’t joining a title contender.

Westbrook spent last season with the Nuggets, where he had a surprising boost in production playing alongside three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Westbrook carried his strong contributions into the playoffs, where he was a difference maker against his old team, the Los Angeles Clippers, in Round 1. But after he helped get the Nuggets to Round 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Westbrook is a franchise legend, the point guard’s play was an unmitigated disaster.

Westbrook played 75 games and another 13 in the playoffs. He began this summer needing to recover from a wrist injury, for which he had surgery. Off the floor, thanks to a quirk in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, Westbrook reached enough service time that it made sense for him to decline his player option with the Nuggets even if he wanted back to Denver.

Westbrook made 36 starts, played over 2,000 minutes and averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists on 45 percent shooting from the field and 32 percent shooting from 3-point range. His production may indicate to some that he’s actually worth significantly more than the minimum he was signed to. Heck, he may have only been so cheap to begin with because he had some money from his previously signed deal with the Clippers, which the Utah Jazz bought him out of.

Money might not be the main thing for the soon-to-be 37-year-old who has made $343 million just from his contracts, since he’ll join a team likely to give him more playing time than wins. But the Nuggets may not have even wanted Westbrook back.

Westbrook made a nice early-season connection with Jokic. But he never got the Nuggets’ bench issues fixed, which is the reason he was brought in to begin with.

Additionally, he had an altercation with Aaron Gordon during the playoffs that boiled over into the media. The Nuggets forward had his veteran’s back through the drama, but it wasn’t the first issue. As the way head coach Michael Malone treated Westbrook wore thin on the locker room, according to reports, tensions rose. That was one of several factors that led to Malone — the winningest coach in franchise history — being fired late in the season. A particular flashpoint was about Westbrook’s playing time compared to youngster Jalen Pickett — new coach David Adelman seemed to favor the Penn State legend.

On the floor, when it mattered most, Westbrook’s shooting was good against the Clippers as the Nuggets rode his spark to beat them in seven games. Against the Thunder, he shot a brutal 35% from the field and 22% from distance while tossing 18 turnovers in the series — flipping a lead to a loss as soon as he entered Game 7.

Westbrook was exactly who the NBA knows him to be: running hot on the floor and off of it, productive when it doesn’t matter much, and making critical mistakes when it does matter. He will be that player again in 2025-26, and what his impact will be is pretty obvious, as is his status as a future Hall of Famer. Westbrook will now look to rekindle a similar connection to the one he had with Jokic, now with Domantas Sabonis, who shares many traits with Denver’s MVP.

The Nuggets still have a bunch of ways they could go with their 15th roster spot, which it seems they’ll leave open at the start of the season before committing.