Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook. Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Kings make significant change involving Russell Westbrook, Dennis Schroder

Originally posted on Hoops Rumors | By Rory Maher | Last updated Nov 14, 2025 7:41 PM ET

Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie is making a significant change to the rotation on Friday in Minnesota.

According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who reports that Russell Westbrook will replace Dennis Schröder as the starting point guard.

Westbrook has actually started six of his 12 appearances this season, largely being used as a small-ball forward alongside Schröder with Keegan Murray recovering from thumb surgery.

Schröder had started each of his 12 games this fall.

BREAKING: Sacramento Kings will insert Russell Westbrook into the starting lineup and move Dennis Schröder to the second unit beginning tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources tell me. pic.twitter.com/0FOCvingIo
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) November 14, 2025

Head coach Doug Christie was already mulling changes

Christie said after both Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s losses that he was considering making changes to the starting lineup.

Schröder, 32, was Sacramento’s primary free-agent addition over the summer, having signed the veteran guard to a three-year, $44M deal. He had an excellent offseason, winning MVP of EuroBasket 2025 after leading the German national team to its second gold medal in three years (the club also won the 2024 World Cup).

However, Schröder has gotten off to a slow start for the 3-9 Kings, particularly struggling during the team’s current four-game losing streak. Over the past four games, the Kings have been trounced during Schröder’s 100 minutes, and he’s averaging just 3.5 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 4-of-27 from the floor (14.8%) over that span.

Westbrook, meanwhile, didn’t sign with the Kings until mid-October, inking a non-guaranteed one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum. He has outplayed Schröder to this point in the season, averaging 14.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 5.8 APG and 1.0 SPG on .440/.397/.758 shooting (27.8 MPG).

This article first appeared on Hoops Rumors and was syndicated with permission.

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