Russell Westbrook announces NBA retirement after 18 seasons

Russell Westbrook, who played 18 NBA seasons with seven teams, announced his retirement on social media on Wednesday.

"Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the end," Westbrook wrote on his post, which contained a video of his career narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan. "You had to be there. And now it's over."

Westbrook had offers this offseason with theSacramento Kings and Washington Wizards,but chose to step away from the game on his own terms, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania, ending one of the most statistically robust careers in league history.

After a two-year college career at UCLA, Westbrook was selected No. 4 in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, but never played a game in the city. The franchise moved to Oklahoma City that summer and Westbrook quickly emerged into a pillar for what would soon become a perennial contender.

Westbrook spent the bulk of his career -- 11 seasons -- with the Thunder, teaming with Kevin Durant and James Harden to lead the Thunder to a Western Conference title in 2012 before losing to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. He scored 43 points in Game 4 of that series at only 23 years old. He remains the Thunder's all-time leader in scoring, assists, rebounds and steals.

Due to ill-timed injuries and personnel changes, that famed Thunder team never made it back to the mountaintop. Harden was traded before the 2012-13 season. Westbrook had a meniscus tear in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. Durant had a foot fracture that ended their 2015 run. They lost in a dramatic seven-game series to the 73-win Golden State Warriors in the 2016 playoffs and Durant departed for the Warriors that ensuing summer.

But Westbrook remained, signing an extension at a time the organization felt at its most vulnerable, keeping them relevant in his mid-prime seasons and helping lure Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City.

During the 2016-17 season, he became the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to average a triple-double for a full season, putting up 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists to capture the MVP award. He posted an NBA-record 42 triple-doubles that season.

Westbrook, a nine-time All-Star, has career averages of 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game and holds the NBA record for most career triple-doubles with 209, surpassing Oscar Robertson's long-standing mark of 181 in 2021. It was a record that stood since 1974.

The Thunder traded George to the LA Clippers and Westbrook to the Houston Rockets before the 2019-20 season, replenishing their asset base and rebuilding the core of what would become the 2025 NBA championships.

That jump-started the winding portion of Westbrook's professional journey. He would play for the Rockets, Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Kings over his final seven seasons, maintaining his durability and production deep into his 30s.

In his final season, Westbrook started 58 games for the Kings and averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds. During the season, he became the all-time leader in rebounds from the point guard position -- a badge he wore proudly -- and joined LeBron James as the only two players in league history with 25,000 points and 10,000 assists.

Westbrook retiresfifth in NBA history in career assists, behind John Stockton, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and James. He is 14th on the NBA's career scoring list with 27,176 points. The only three active players ahead of him are James, Durant and Harden.

The Kings had discussions with Westbrook about bringing him back in recent weeks, league sources said, but it would've been in a reduced role as the organization turned its direction over to rookie point guard Darius Acuff.

Westbrook's agent, Excel Sports Management founder and CEO Jeff Schwartz, released a statement earlier Wednesday about issues for veteran players -- potentially such as Westbrook -- to land deals in the wake of the first- and second-aprons era of the collective bargaining agreement: "Incredible, the Lakers sell for $12 [billion], yet teams won't spend on older vets because of current CBA rules. Thank you, Union."br/]