There's less than a week remaining until the 2025-26 NBA regular season tips off, and finally Russell Westbrook has a new home.
Russ has signed with the Sacramento Kings, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
This will mark Westbrook's 18th year in the NBA.
He spent his first 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and has since played for the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.
In 2024-25 for the Nuggets, Westbrook averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
In his career, Westbrook has averaged 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Westbrook is a nine-time All Star, a two-time scoring champ, three-time assist champ, two-time All-Star MVP and the regular season MVP in 2016-17.
Russ will turn 37 on Nov. 12, and he'll celebrate his birthday in a Kings uniform.
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Why did Russell Westbrook sign with the Sacramento Kings?
There are two reasons Russ has signed with the Kings, and they're really both about opportunity.
One is simply the free agent market opportunity available to Westbrook. It never felt throughout the offseason reports that there was a lot of interest in Russ.
And now a look at the Kings' depth chart reveals the other aspect to the opportunity at hand here.
The Kings are slated to start Dennis Schroder at point guard and Keon Ellis at the 2. Malik Monk, Devin Carter and Nique Clifford are the bench guards.
Even at this stage of his career, Westbrook has enough talent (and enough belief in himself) to think he can move ahead of any of those names on the depth chart rather quickly.
The Kings could actually have a pretty cool lineup with Russ, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis as four players on the floor at once.
Westbrook could be a key piece in keeping the Kings competitive in the strong Western Conference.
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