SI:AM | Farewell to Russell Westbrook, the Most Entertaining Player of His Generation

On and off the court, the future Hall of Famer was one of a kind.

Russell Westbrook is retiring after 18 years in the NBA. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Russell Westbrook just raised the bar for every other athlete’s retirement announcement. How can you top getting a Best Actor winner to narrate your video?

In today’s SI:AM: 
👏 Westbrook retires
💰 Lakers sold again
🏈 Drake Maye’s encore

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Russ hangs it up

Russell Westbrook is retiring from the NBA after an 18-year career that will go down as one of the greatest in the history of the game. 

Westbrook, 37, announced his retirement on social media yesterday, posting a video retrospective of his career narrated by Oscar-winning actor Michael B. Jordan. 

“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end,” Westbrook captioned his post. “You had to be there. And now it’s over.”

Westbrook wasn’t the greatest player of his generation. Some may even say he’s the third-best player drafted by the Sonics/Thunder in the late 2000s. But he might be the most entertaining player of the past 20 years. 

Westbrook had the type of jaw-dropping athleticism to race past defenders in transition or quickly leave them in the dust in the half court. He played with tenacity on both ends of the floor, never taking off plays defensively as other elite scoring threats often did. And despite giving his all every night, he was remarkably durable, playing over 90% of his team’s games over his 18-year career. He was even at the forefront of turning the pregame tunnel walk into a fashion showcase.

Perhaps most interestingly, Westbrook’s style of play ran counter to the way the rest of the league was heading. In an increasingly analytics-driven environment that valued efficiency over all else, Westbrook was beautifully inefficient. His 2016–17 MVP season was historic because he became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double, but he was derided by critics for chucking up too many shots (a league-high 24.0 per game). He ranked 107th in the NBA in effective field goal percentage that season. But who cares? Might the Thunder have won more games that year if Westbrook had been more judicious with his shot selection? Maybe. But it was a joy to watch. 

Lakers owner cashes in

Mark Walter is reportedly selling the Lakers less than a year after completing his initial purchase of the franchise. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

I’m typically not all that interested when a pro sports franchise is sold. One billionaire used to sign the checks and now another one will. Big whoop. Unless it’s some infamous figure like Dan Snyder or Donald Sterling getting ousted, it just doesn’t move the needle much. 

But yesterday’s news that the Lakers are set to be sold (again) for a record-breaking price (again) actually is interesting. 

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner have reportedly agreed to buy the team from current owner Mark Walter for $12.5 billion. 

This is fascinating for a couple of reasons. First of all, Walter has only officially owned the team for less than a year. He agreed to purchase the franchise in June 2025, ending the Buss family’s four-decade control of one of the most iconic franchises in American sports, and the sale was formally approved by the league in October. Walter paid $10 billion to acquire the team, the highest price tag ever for an American sports franchise. Now he’s set to make a pretty healthy profit. (The sale can’t be finalized until it’s approved by the NBA’s board of governors, which is set to meet next month.)

It’s also interesting that the agreement comes about three weeks after news broke that the federal prosecutors were probing two of Walter’s insurance companies for potential financial improprieties. The investigation itself is not new—the FBI reportedly seized Walter’s phone and laptop in September—and there is no reporting to suggest that the sale is tied to the probe, but the unusual decision to flip the franchise so soon after Walter initially bought it is eyebrow-raising at the very least. (Walter has not been charged with a crime or accused of wrongdoing.)

Walter and the new owners moved quickly, too. “The deal came together in three days,” Iger told the California Post. Walter is also the primary owner of the Dodgers, but is not currently expected to sell the MLB team. 

Kushner’s involvement adds another layer to the whole thing. He’s the younger brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The subject of an active federal investigation putting billions of dollars in the pocket of a relative of the head of the federal government warrants some scrutiny at a minimum. 

Kushner is also the head of the firm at the center of the highly controversial plan to sell the World Cup, which also sparked criticism over FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s close ties to Trump and how the proposed sale would benefit the President’s family. Kushner’s company Thrive Eternal would be the primary shareholder in the breakaway organization in charge of the World Cup under Infantino’s widely denounced plan. 

It’s a big club, and you’re not in it. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

Jamie Schwaberow/Sports Illustrated

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The top five…

Sung-Mun Song slid home safely to give the Padres a walk-off win over the Brewers. | David Frerker/Imagn Images

… things I saw last night:
5. Tempo rookie Kiki Rice’s circus shot. 
4. A great diving catch by the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker. 
3. Not one, not two, but three home runs for Alex Bregman. That’s the ninth multi-homer game of his career and his first three-homer game. 
2. A great throw by Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio for the final out of Cleveland’s win over the Tigers. 
1. The play at the plate in the 11th inning of the Brewers-Padres game.