According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Russell Westbrook is declining his 2025-26 player option with the Denver Nuggets worth $3.5 million.
Westbrook will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and Adam Wells of Bleacher Report considers the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings as potential landing spots for the 2017 MVP if he doesn’t re-sign with the Nuggets.
The Mavericks and Kings need a point guard. Dallas star Kyrie Irving will miss a chunk of next season recovering from his left ACL tear, while Sacramento doesn’t have a traditional starting floor general on the roster after trading De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
Westbrook played with Mavericks star big man Anthony Davis on the Los Angeles Lakers and was teammates with Kings center Domantas Sabonis on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A nine-time All-Star, Westbrook appeared in 75 games this season for Denver. He averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 44.9% from the field, 32.3% from beyond the arc and 66.1% from the free-throw line.
Westbrook going back to the Nuggets isn’t a sure thing, as an anonymous Denver player said the UCLA product is “so immature.”
After the Nuggets lost Game 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2025 postseason, Westbrook and Aaron Gordon got into a heated discussion, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
“Minutes after the Nuggets lost Game 2 of their first-round series against the Clippers, David Adelman had a problem,” Shelburne wrote. “While he’d been at the postgame lectern, there’d been a heated discussion between Westbrook and Gordon in the locker room, multiple sources told ESPN. Gordon had challenged Westbrook about his attitude.
“Outside the locker room, one player relayed why Gordon might’ve done so. ‘He’s so immature,’ he said of Westbrook.”
A future Hall of Famer, Westbrook has played for the Thunder, Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Lakers, Clippers and Nuggets. He turns 37 in November.
Westbrook has the most triple-doubles in NBA history. He has career averages of 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists in 1,237 NBA games.
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