Inside The Thunder

OKC Thunder Legend Russell Westbrook Makes History with Kings

Former Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook reached a few career milestones on Saturday night with the Sacramento Kings.
Randall Sweet|
Dec 27, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook (18) looks to the baseline during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Golden 1 Center.
Dec 27, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook (18) looks to the baseline during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Golden 1 Center. | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

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Oklahoma City ThunderSacramento Kings

Russell Westbrook is undoubtedly one of the best players in Oklahoma City Thunder history.

After being the No. 4 overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft out of UCLA, Westbrook spent 11 years in the Modern Frontier. During his time with the Thunder, the talented point guard averaged 23 points, 8.4 assists, 7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

Westbrook's storied career with Oklahoma City included All-Rookie honors, 8 All-Star appearances and even an MVP award.

After the 2018-19 season, though, Oklahoma City elected to move on from Westbrook as the team began its rebuild that netted the team Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a number of draft picks. Westbrook would go on to spend time with the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers and, during the 2024-25 campaign, the Denver Nuggets.

Last season saw the former OKC legend return to his former stomping grounds in a crucial playoff series as the Nuggets and Thunder clashed in the Western Conference Semifinals. After Oklahoma City beat Denver in seven games, Westbrook spent most of the offseason searching for a new team, signing with the Sacramento Kings shortly before the start of the 2025-26 NBA season.

While Sacramento has struggled this year, notching only 8 wins thus far, Westbrook has notched a few strong showings throughout the year. On Saturday night, the 18-year veteran tallied 21 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal to help the Kings take down Dallas 113-107.

Westbrook's performance put the former Thunder star at No. 7 on the NBA's all-time assists leaderboard, surpassing Magic Johnson with career 10,142 assists. Only Mark Jackson, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and John Stockton have more career assists than Westbrook.

In addition to his place on the NBA's all-time assists list, Westbrook also became the fifth player in more than 50 years to record 25,000 career points and 2,000 career steals. The only other players to achieve that feat since 1973-74 are James, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan.

Westbrook came into Saturday's matchup averaging 14.4 points, 7.2 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 42.8% from the field and a career best 35% from 3-point range for the Kings. While Sacramento hasn't had a successful season in the win column, the former OKC star has proven that he can still compete a high level in the NBA 18 years into his career.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall Sweet is a 2022 Oklahoma University graduate who has formerly written for the Norman Transcript and OU Daily. Randall also serves as the Communications Coordinator at Visit OKC.

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