Oklahoma City's Comeback vs. Warriors (2016)

Lore & Background

Westbrook played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and earned third-team all-conference honors in the Pac-10. He was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then relocated to Oklahoma City that same week. Westbrook played for the Thunder for 11 seasons and is the franchise's all-time leading scorer. He appeared in the NBA Finals as a member of the Thunder in 2012, losing to the Miami Heat.

In 2019, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets, playing one season for the organization before being traded again to the Washington Wizards in 2020. After a season in Washington, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021. Following two relatively disappointing seasons there, he was traded to and bought out by the Utah Jazz before signing with the Los Angeles Clippers later in the 2022–23 season. In the summer of 2024, he was again traded to the Utah Jazz and waived preceding his signing with the Denver Nuggets for the 2024–25 season.

As of the established timeline, Westbrook remains an active NBA player, with his career continuing beyond the 2024–25 season.

Reader's Guide

Westbrook represented the United States national team twice, winning gold medals on their 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 Olympic teams. He grew up in Hawthorne, California, and attended Leuzinger High School, where he did not start on the varsity team until his junior year. He played college basketball at UCLA, where he was named third-team All-Pac-10 and Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. In his rookie season with the Thunder, he averaged 15.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He made his first All-Star appearance in 2011 and was named to the All-NBA Second Team that season. In the 2012 NBA Finals, Westbrook scored a playoff career-high 43 points in a Game 4 loss.