Former NBA Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook will sign a contract with the Sacramento Kings, his seventh NBA team.
His agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, confirmed the deal with ESPN on Wednesday.
The Athletic reported Westbrook is expected to sign the one-year, minimum-salary deal Thursday.
For Westbrook, this will be the 18th season of a decorated career that has seen him gather two first-time All-NBA honors, nine All-Star selections, and two scoring and three assist season titles. He is also the all-time leader in the NBA in triple doubles.
Westbrook, a point guard, was a starter most of his career but has been used in a sixth man role in recent seasons. In 75 games (36 starts) with the Denver Nuggets last season, Westbrook averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 1.4 steals over 27.9 minutes and shot 44.9% from the field.
Westbrook, who turns 37 next month, has never won an NBA title. He continues to chase that and also has some personal milestones to reach. With 26,205 points, he stands behind only Oscar Robertson (26,710) in scoring by a point guard. He is 75 assists short of becoming the eighth player to reach 10,000 assists in the NBA.
Westbrook has appeared in 1,237 games (1,075 starts) and averaged 21.2 points, 8.0 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals since the Seattle SuperSonics selected him No. 4 overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. The Sonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder, the franchise with which Westbrook won the MVP award in 2016-17.
He also played for the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, and Nuggets.
The Kings open the regular season Oct. 22 at the Phoenix Suns.
–Field Level Media
Comments