Russell Westbrook: The UCLA Years and Beyond
Russell Westbrook III, born on November 12, 1988, is an American professional basketball player currently playing for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Known for his agility, intensity, and explosiveness, he is considered one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. Before his illustrious NBA career, Westbrook honed his skills at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he laid the foundation for his future success.
Early Life and High School Career
Russell Westbrook III was born in Long Beach, California, to Russell Westbrook Jr. and Shannon Horton. He entered Leuzinger High School as a point guard who stood only 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall and weighed only 140 pounds (64 kg), although he did have large (size 14) feet. He did not start on his school's varsity team until his junior year and did not receive his first college recruiting letter until the summer before his senior year. During his senior year, Westbrook averaged 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals, and 2.3 assists and helped lead them to a 25-4 record. That same season, he recorded 14 double-doubles, scored 30 or more points on eight separate occasions, and registered a career-best 51 points at Carson on January 6, 2006.
UCLA Career (2006-2008)
Upon arriving at the University of California, Los Angeles, Westbrook's high school jersey number 4 was already taken by Arron Afflalo, so Westbrook wore number 0 throughout his time at UCLA. As a freshman in 2006-07, he played as a backup to Darren Collison and was primarily used as a defender and energy player off the bench. Westbrook averaged 3.4 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.7 assists on the year. During the off-season, he trained extensively, both in the weight room and in the gym, where he faced NBA veterans who visited Los Angeles.
The next season, Collison was injured and Westbrook was named the starter. He finished the season averaging 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.6 steals. UCLA advanced to the Final Four during each of Westbrook's seasons with the team. In 2007, they lost to eventual national champion Florida, 76-66, and in 2008, they lost 78-63 to Memphis. His best season was his second with the Bruins (2007-08) when he was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and was selected to the All-Pac-12 Third Team.
NBA Career
Westbrook was selected fourth overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, which then relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder six days later. He signed with the team on July 5, 2008. Westbrook was again unable to wear his old number 4 jersey, as Nick Collison was already wearing it, so instead he wore 0 again. He would not wear the number 4 jersey until the 2023-24 season. On March 2, 2009, Westbrook recorded his first career triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Westbrook averaged 15.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game in his rookie season. In his second season, and his first season as a full-time starter, Westbrook averaged 16.1 points, 8.0 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. The Thunder made a huge turnaround by more than doubling their wins from the previous season and qualified for the playoffs with a 50-32 record. The Thunder were eliminated by the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.
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On November 26, 2010, Westbrook scored a then-career-high 43 points against the Indiana Pacers. Westbrook was selected by NBA head coaches to be a Western Conference reserve for the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. This was his first all-star appearance. Westbrook finished the season with averages of 21.9 points, 8.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the first time. The Thunder finished the season at 55-27 and lost to the eventual world champion Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Due to the lockout, the 2011-12 season would start on Christmas Day. On January 9, 2012, Westbrook would sign a 5-year, $80 million extension to keep him in Oklahoma City through the 2016-17 season. On February 9, was again selected by the coaches to participate in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. On March 23, 2012, he scored a career-high 45 points in a 149-140 double overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Westbrook helped lead the Thunder to the NBA Finals for the first time since the franchise relocated, but they would lose in five games to the Miami Heat. On June 12, in Game 1 of the Finals, Westbrook recorded 27 points and 11 assists in a 105-94 victory.
Westbrook was once again selected for the NBA All-Star Game. He finished the 2012-13 season averaging 23.2 points, 7.4 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. Westbrook helped lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs and the first seed in the Western Conference. They would go on to face the 8th seed Houston Rockets in the first round. On April 25, 2013, in the second game of the series, Westbrook injured his right knee when Rockets guard Patrick Beverley collided with him in an attempt to steal the ball. Although Westbrook was clearly bothered by the injury, he would continue playing and finished the game with 29 points. Prior to the start of the 2013-14 season, Westbrook had a second surgery on his right knee, which set back his return to basketball. Despite reports that he would miss the first two weeks of the regular season, Westbrook only missed the first two games before returning to action. On December 26, however, it was announced that Westbrook would undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and would be out until after the All-Star break. The Thunder were able to remain competitive despite his absence due mainly to Kevin Durant's stellar play. Westbrook returned to the lineup on February 20, 2014. Westbrook and the Thunder finished with a 59-23 record, earning the second seed in the Western Conference. They advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they faced the San Antonio Spurs. On May 27, 2014, in a Game 4 victory, Westbrook recorded 40 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals. The Thunder lost the series to the eventual NBA champion Spurs in six games.
After scoring 38 points in a 106-89 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2014-15 season opener, Westbrook suffered a small fracture of the second metacarpal in his right hand the following game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He missed 14 games with the injury. With Westbrook and Durant both inactive due to injuries, the Thunder amassed a 4-12 record prior to Westbrook's return on November 28. In Westbrook's first game back, he led the Thunder to a win over the New York Knicks with 32 points. After tying a career-high 45 points on February 4, 2015, in a 102-91 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Westbrook broke that mark to score a new career high of 48 points two days later, this time in a 116-113 loss to the Pelicans. After being injured the previous year, Westbrook returned to the All-Star Game in 2015. On March 4, Westbrook set career highs with 49 points and 16 rebounds. Westbrook was voted to start in his first All-Star Game in 2016, and he earned his second All-Star Game MVP award in a 196-173 win by the West. In the playoffs, Westbrook helped guide the Thunder past the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and the San Antonio Spurs in the second round. In the Western Conference Finals, they faced the defending champion Golden State Warriors, taking home court advantage after stealing Game 1 of the series on the road. With the series tied at 1-1 after Game 2, the Thunder returned home and took a 3-1 advantage with two home wins.
Following the off-season departure of Durant, trade speculation began swirling around Westbrook, whose contract was set to expire in 2017. The Thunder were determined to keep Westbrook and held off all trade talks in order to work out an extension. On August 4, 2016, Westbrook signed a three-year, $85.7 million contract extension with the Thunder. He became the focal point of the team. On December 9, Westbrook recorded his seventh straight triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 102-99 loss to the Houston Rockets. On January 23, Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper with 1.4 seconds left to lift the Thunder to a 97-95 win over the Utah Jazz. On March 7, Westbrook's career-high 58 points was not enough to lift the Thunder over the Portland Trail Blazers, losing 126-121. Westbrook went on to tie Oscar Robertson's single-season record of 41 triple-doubles on April 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks. His historic 42nd triple-double, breaking Robertson's record of most triple-doubles in a season, came in a 106-105 road victory against the Denver Nuggets on April 9 in which the team overcame a 14-point deficit. On April 19, in Game 2 of the Thunder's first-round playoff series against the Rockets, Westbrook had 51 points. Despite his efforts, the Thunder lost 115-111 to go down 2-0 in the series. In Game 4 four days later, Westbrook had 35 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, but could not lead the Thunder to a win, as they went down 3-1 in the series with a 113-109 loss. With a loss to the Rockets in Game 5, the Thunder bowed out of the playoffs with a 4-1 series defeat.
On September 29, 2017, Westbrook signed a five-year, $205 million contract extension with the Thunder. The deal started with the 2018-19 season and delivered Westbrook the largest guaranteed contract in NBA history at the time-six seasons and $233 million through 2022-23. The contract included a player option for the 2022-23 season. Continuing on from his historic 2016-17 season, Westbrook had a triple-double in the Thunder's season opener against the New York Knicks on October 19. Playing alongside new All-Star teammates Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, Westbrook had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists in a 105-84 win. After starting the season with an 8-12 record, the Thunder improved to 20-15 with a 124-107 win over the Toronto Raptors on December 27. On March 13, 2018, Westbrook recorded 32 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds in a 119-107 win over the Atlanta Hawks, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to record 100 triple-doubles, joining Oscar Robertson (181 triple-doubles), Magic Johnson (138) and Jason Kidd (107). On April 9, Westbrook recorded his 25th triple-double of the season with 23 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in a 115-93 win over the Miami Heat, helping the Thunder clinch a playoff spot. Westbrook finished the season as the league leader in assists per game, averaging 10.3 per game, and he was named to the All-NBA Second Team. In Game 5 of the Thunder's first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz, Westbrook scored 33 of his 45 points in the second half as Oklahoma City rallied from 25 points down to fight off elimination and beat the Jazz 107-99. On January 31, Westbrook received his eighth career All-Star selection by being named a Western Conference reserve. On February 11, Westbrook broke Wilt Chamberlain's record for consecutive triple-doubles after tallying 21 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a 120-111 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. On February 14, he recorded 44 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a 131-122 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
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On July 16, 2019, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets for All-Star Chris Paul, two protected first-round picks, and two first-round pick swaps. The move reunited Westbrook with former Thunder teammate James Harden; the two players both expressed mutual interest and enthusiasm in playing together at this stage in their careers. Harden spent his first three seasons in the league (2009-2012) on the Thunder with Westbrook. The suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season began in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. In July, Westbrook tested positive for COVID-19. He recovered and rejoined the team later that month in Orlando, Florida, for the league's restart. In the third game following his return, Westbrook strained his right quad and missed four of the five remaining regular season games. In the playoffs, he missed the first four games of the opening series against Oklahoma City. He helped Houston advance to the semifinals, where they were eliminated 4-1 by the Lakers.
After a 118-100 loss to the Celtics for the No. As his first season with the Lakers progressed, Westbrook received criticism for his perceived poor quality of play. Westbrook was criticized following a 4-for-20 shooting performance in a 122-115 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day. The Lakers had a 21-20 record at the halfway point of the regular season, and Westbrook was often a recipient of the blame for the team's struggles relative to its 2020 championship season. Westbrook shot 30 percent from the three-point line and turned the ball over 4.6 times per game through early January, and he received criticism for a particular game against the Minnesota Timberwolves where he turned the ball over nine times. On April 5, 2022, the Lakers were defeated, 121-110, by the Phoenix Suns. This defeat eliminated the team from obtaining a playoff berth. The 2021-22 season was the third season in Westbrook's career (and the first since 2015) in which he missed the playoffs. Vogel was fired after the season. After severing ties with agent Thad Foucher of Wasserman in July 2022, Westbrook signed Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports.
Legacy and Impact
The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar is considered by many to be the best pure athlete in the National Basketball Association - his spinning, swooping, fly-through-the-defense dunks are YouTube staples. Yet Russell Westbrook was cut from his high school team as a freshman. Just a few years later, he was a vital part of two consecutive UCLA Final Four teams. But he never forgot where he truly took off, and in 2015, he made the largest donation ever received from a former UCLA basketball player to help build the Mo Ostin Basketball Center on campus.
Earlier this NBA season, former UCLA star and Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook became the first player in NBA history to reach 300 career triple-doubles. It was just one of many times the former MVP has separated himself from the greatest to play the game. On Monday, he made league history again. With his performance in the Nuggets' win over the Utah Jazz on Monday, Westbrook became just the third player in NBA history to record a perfect triple-double. That means a perfect field goal percentage and zero turnovers. Westbrook was 7-of-7 from the field, finishing with 16 points. He grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 10 assists to secure the triple-double. He also earned four steals. “First-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone after the game. “What I admire so much about him, aside from the leadership and toughness he brings every single day, is that he has no ego.”
Westbrook is in his 17th NBA season. He played his first 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which consisted of the most successful stretch of his career. A a member of the Thunder, he was named to eight of his nine career All-Star games, won an MVP, and averaged a triple-double in three straight seasons. He did it again two years later with the Washington Wizards.
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Westbrook has come close to an NBA title before but has yet to win one in his career. With Denver, his chances of finally doing so are pretty good, considering it just won it all two seasons ago. "He came here for one reason, and that's to help us win a championship," Malone said. "And he hates to lose, and that's another thing I love about him.
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