As They Should: The Oklahoma City Thunder Will Officially Retire Russell Westbrook's Number Later This Season
Chris Schwegler. Getty Images.When Russell Westbrook decided to take matters into his own hands and walk away from the NBA, it was a bit of a shock. While he wasn't the player he was in his prime, Westbrook was definitely still a productive player in 2025-26. Despite it being hi age 37 season, Westbrook still played in 64 games (29 minutes a night) while putting up 15/5/6 for the Kings. I get that things didn't lead to wins because….well it was the Kings, but he was also productive as a Nugget and Clipper these last few years and when you look around the league right now there are definitely players on rosters who are not as good or productive as Russ.
There were reports that he turned down some opportunities on lesser teams, and in some ways I respect that. Even though he had more left in the tank, he left on his own terms. We may not have to agree with it, but not every NBA player is that lucky. Westbrook is obviously a first ballot HOFer despite people's obsession with being weird about his career, but this pretty much sums it up
Add in the triple-double seasons, and Westbrook will go down in history as one of the best to ever do it. Not a perfect player by any means, but someone who helped define an entire era of NBA basketball.
So now that he walked away for good and his HOF case isn't really a debate, the next question turned to would the Thunder retire his number? That should be an easy no brainer yes, but things can be weird. Their breakup wasn't exactly the best, and if we're talking about the Thunder SPECIFCIALLY here, they've only retired one number (Nick Collison).
Our answer? Duh
Giphy Images.
Advertisement
Their history is a little tricky because NBA record books have them grouped together with the Sonics, but even with that in mind, Russell Westbrook retired with the following career ranks for SEA/OKC:
- 1st in points (18,859)
- 2nd in assists (6,897
- 3rd in steals (1,442)
- 1st in triple doubles (138)
- 4th in games played (821)
- 2nd in minutes played (28,330)
- 2nd in FGM (6,626)
- 1st in FTM (4,685)
- 3rd in rebounds (5,760)
- 5th in wins (468)
In my humble opinion, if you do ALL OF THAT for a franchise, including winning an MVP while playing for that franchise, that's a pretty obvious jersey retirement selection. Add in everything else Westbrook did for that city and community, I'm glad the Thunder weren't weird about him when it came to this decision. It would have been weird if Westbrook's number was never retired anywhere, and really his only case was with the Thunder. This also makes me hopeful they'll do the same for Durant when that time comes even though that breakup wasn't the best either. When it comes to the jersey retirement topic, there's no need to be petty if you ask me. Especially when you're talking about some of the best players the franchise has ever seen.
It sucks that OKC group was never able to raise a banner to those rafters, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Life isn't fair. At least now there will always be a reminder for future generations of one of the greatest Thunder players ever, which isn't nothing. Well deserved.