Oklahoma City Thunder to retire Russell Westbrook’s jersey

The Oklahoma City Thunder will retire, on February 7, the shirt with the number ‘0’ of Russell Westbrookwho played eleven seasons in that franchise, with which he reached the NBA Finals in 2012 and won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of the season in 2017.

“We are extremely proud to retire Russell’s number. During his time with the team, Russell left an indelible mark on the city and state, and his commitment to the community has endured long afterward,” Thunder president Clayton Bennett said in a statement.

The shirt retirement ceremony will take place during half-time of the match against the New York Knicks, current NBA champions.

Westbrook, 37, retired this year after one season with the Sacramento Kings. He did it like him Oklahoma City’s historic leader in games played (821), points (18,859), rebounds (5,760), assists (6,897), steals (1,442), field goals scored (6,626) and minutes (28,329).

The point guard was selected in fourth place in the 2008 draft by the Seattle Supersonicsbut he never played with the green jersey, since at the beginning of that season the team moved to Oklahoma City.

There Westbrook coincided with two future NBA MVP winners, Kevin Durant and James Hardenat an early stage in the careers of all three, and together they reached the Finals in 2012where they fell to the Miami Heat.

The explosive point guard was the component of that trio that spent the most seasons in Oklahoma: a total of eleven, before leaving for the Houston Rockets.

He later played in the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings.

Westbrook is the player with the most triple-doubles (double digits in three statistical facets in the same game) has been recorded in the history of the NBA, with 209.

It is, furthermore, together with Oscar Robertson and Nikola Jokicone of only three players in NBA history to have averaged a triple-double for an entire season, a milestone he achieved four times.

However, He never managed to win the NBA championshipand after his retirement he joined the long list of illustrious players who left their mark on the league without having achieved the desired ring.