37-year-old Russell Westbrook announced the end of his 18-year NBA career via a social media video on Wednesday. What's truly worth digging into here isn't the word "retirement" — it's the fact that he actually had two contract offers on the table, and signed neither.
According to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Washington Wizards had offered Westbrook a two-year deal, hoping the veteran guard would return to Washington. But it was Westbrook himself who pulled the plug on negotiations. Stein wrote: "The 37-year-old veteran was clearly hesitant about the specific terms of the contract, or the role the team envisioned for him, and ultimately decided not to continue playing." The details of the breakdown weren't made public, but the gap between expectations was clearly significant.
The other offer came from the Sacramento Kings. Last season, Westbrook appeared in 64 games for the Kings, averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 assists — numbers that weren't bad at all. According to The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry and Tyler Batiste, the Kings' offer for the new season would have had him step back into a supporting role, taking on "veteran leadership" and "mentorship" duties off the bench to help develop rookie point guard Acuff. For a Westbrook who still had gas left in the tank, being pushed to the margins like that wasn't something he was willing to accept.
