If this does end up being Russell Westbrook's last season, he's going out like a Viking warrior and riding straight into Valhalla. The living legend led the Sacramento Kings to a solid win over the Golden State Warriors and shut down his naysayers with one epic triple-double performance.
Russell Westbrook is proving he still has plenty left in the tank, and he's doing it on a non-guaranteed, minimum contract.
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) November 6, 2025
Over 8 games:
15.0 PTS | 7.1 REB | 5.6 AST | 1.4 STL | 43% 3PT
Pretty crazy that nobody else took a flier on him this summer. pic.twitter.com/hkMHV15U9t
The last few seasons have been really up and down for the former MVP. Westbrook has struggled to find a rhythm with several teams. It looked like he found a home with the Nuggets, but Russell himself recently revealed that they asked him to take his player option and leave.
Now, he's making the Nuggets look like fools for letting him go and the Kings like geniuses for bringing him in. After a slow start in the first couple of games, Russell has found that missing rhythm and has quickly become a key part of the odd roster Sacramento is slowly putting together.
Westbrook takes it to the Warriors
The Kings walked into this game with Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis, and Zach LaVine all on the bench. Fortunately for Sacramento, the Warriors weren't in much better shape with Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, and Stephen Curry all missing the game, as well.
Russell Westbrook absolutely went off, dropping 23 points on 69.2% shooting and 75.0% from three. Not enough? The man also picked up 16 rebounds and 10 assists. If you're keeping track, that's another triple-double for Brodie, bringing his career total up to 204.
With his 16 boards tonight, Russell Westbrook now has 8,734 rebounds in his regular season career!
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) November 6, 2025
He passes Jason Kidd (8,725) for the most by a guard in NBA history 🤯 https://t.co/bfk4iJDQqb pic.twitter.com/T1jML7RnDW
If you need more than that to prove Westbrook has the goods, his performance last night solidified him as the greatest rebounding guard in the history of the NBA. That's one more personal accolade to add to his ever-growing list, and all in his 18th season in the league.
The next steps for Westbrook and the Kings
As they are put together right now, the Kings are not contenders. Period. But maybe there is actually a vision at work here that could build them into something in the not too distant future. That's a lot of hope coming off one victory, but a championship team has to start somewhere.
The only question is how soon that potential vision will come to fruition. Westbrook has said this isn't his last season. With performances like this, the Kings likely want to keep him around. But Russell only has two, maybe three, seasons left, and he's still hunting for an NBA Championship.
If he's going to win a title before he retires, the Kings need to get it together sooner rather than later and help the man get that title. It's a tall order for a team that has seen the playoffs once in the last 20 years and hasn't made the finals since moving to Sacramento. But there's always a chance.