As soon as I heard the news, I wanted to post my thoughts but everyone was posting their thoughts so I decided just to wait and make a more heartfelt post. Westbrook has always been one of the most entertaining players of my generation, in fact he was my brothers favorite player of all time growing up so we were watching a lot of Westbrook-KD Thunder games. He was mister consistent, never missed a game or at least significant time and was going to give you 23 and 8 at minimum. Then, KD left and everything seemed like it was over and Westbrook was a dead man walking on a team one step closer to blowing it up. Instead, I think we all know the story, they traded Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo and a young Domantas Sabonis and Westbrook ended up being the second person ever to average a triple double in a season and hands down won the MVP. When people look back at his legacy, they will point at the MVP or the triple double record, but what defines his career is his grit and motivation in a generation that doesn't seem to translate with the Jordan or Mamba mentality from the 90's and (in Kobe's perspective) 2000's.

I look back and reminisce on watching his final game as a Thunder in what felt like a game that was going to go to Game 6 in my eyes until Damian Lillard put that nail in the coffin. I thought Westbrook and PG would come back next season with a vengeance, but it appears the Thunder had other plans and shipped both off as soon as possible. Even though I wasn't a Thunder fan, I felt gut wrenched and cheated on for Sam Presti trading him away, but I also thought that trading him to Houston would had gave him his best chance to win the Finals playing alongside his former teammate and fellow former MVP in James Harden. I was dead wrong, but it did start his journeyman phase, a phase that the majority of people on this site have only seen him in. He went to Houston to Washington to LA to LA to Denver to his final stop in Sacramento. Six teams in seven years and only once was he an All Star, once the assist leader, and was part of the 75th Anniversary team. A lot of y'all missed his golden age, and I highly recommend finding some of those tapes.

Nine time All Star, two time NBA All Star Game MVP, nine time All NBA, two time scoring champ, three time assist champ, Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year, third team All Pac 10, Pac 10 All Defensive, All Rookie first team, NBA 75th Anniversary team, and one singular MVP season. Eighteen seasons and to walk away without being forced out or teams not wanting to sign him is remarkable in today's age. Look at John Wall that after he was at Houston and had one injury that nobody wanted to touch him and had to wait until he got bought out so the Clippers can take one last swing with him until he got hurt or look at Ben Simmons who was one of the top defensive players in the NBA but couldn't develop a jump shot to save his life and had to be bought out until the Clippers took one last swing with him until they realized he wasn't the same guy from 2019. Both players came into the league after Westbrook and left before he did (though Simmons has yet to retire, there is a very unlikely chance he returns to the NBA). It is rare to see, but with all things I am happy to see him leave on his own and am excited to see his next phase in his life!

Thanks for reading this and please let me know your thoughts down below!