Russell Westbrook Declining 2025-26 Player Option With Nuggets

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Russell Westbrook is declining his 2025-26 player option with the Denver Nuggets. 

Westbrook will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. 

The Nuggets lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of this year’s playoffs in seven games. Westbrook signed with Denver last offseason. 

A nine-time All-Star, Westbrook appeared in 75 games this season. 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. An anonymous Denver player said Westbrook is “so immature.”

After the Nuggets lost Game 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, 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, Los Angeles 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.