The Denver Nuggets rode all of the ups and downs of the Russell Westbrook experience and declined to get back on the ride for a second trip. Now the Sacramento Kings are learning lessons that the Nuggets and their fans know all too well.
Discussing a player like Westbrook is a difficult affair. On the one hand, he has had an incredible career by most NBA standards: nine-time All-NBA, MVP, two-time scoring champion and the triple double king (Nikola Jokic is gallopping toward his crown, however). On the other, he has refused to do things in any way other than his own, and that has caused some pain for the teams employing him throughout his career.
The Nuggets signed Westbrook prior to the 2024-25 season and discovered two things: even at the age of 35 he had plenty left in the tank, and that the cost may not have been worth it. He was a prolific player during the regular season and then maintained his role in the postseason. He was scoring and passing and rebounding and flailing and drawing fouls and committing fouls and clanking jumpers and turning the ball over and making all sorts of faces: it was the peak Russell Westbrook experience.
The primary difficulty with having Russell Westbrook on your roster is that he is good enough that you play him. When you play him, he brings all of the two-way intensity that you need from a role player, but with it his muscle memory of being an on-ball star. He will run the floor and dive after loose balls and cut to the rim -- but he also loves to get the ball and make something happen with it, for good or for ill.
At times, Nuggets fans cheered as a former MVP made a winning play last season; at others, they groaned and clutched their heads as he made a truly boneheaded play. In the playoffs, right when Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray should have been taking the reins, his usage rate went up. He can't help himself. As the game goes on and as the season goes on, he begins to grow out of the role the team has set for him.
That's a major reason the Nuggets moved on from Westbrook this summer, choosing to replace him in the backcourt with Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. While he reportedly received some interest early in free agency, he didn't agree to a deal until late in the preseason, signing with the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook is up to his old tricks
After a couple of games to get ramped up, Westbrook has played significant minutes in his last three games for the Kings, all losses, and started the last two. He is essentially the starting power forward, stepping in for the injured Keegan Murray for a team without proven forward depth.
In a close game early in the week against the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers, Westbrook took hold of the reins and played over 30 minutes, leading the team with 16 shot attempts. He made just six of those, was a wild 2-for-8 from 2-point range, and he was a team-worst -16 in a six-point loss.
Westbrook is just being who he is - he plays hard and he tries to make every play. He is an excellent passer, but loves having the ball in his hands and making something happen. It's not his fault the Kings are trying to shoehorn a point guard in at power forward, but he also doesn't bring enough else to the table as a support player to scale into that role.
The Nuggets know that in the end, the Russell Westbrook experience is not worth it. Now the Kings are coming to the same realization.