Future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook chose to walk away from the game of basketball on Wednesday, despite interest in his services. The Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards wanted Westbrook, but he rejected them and chose to retire on his own terms. It was an interesting decision, and NBA insider Marc Stein has now revealed why he turned down the opportunity to continue his career.
“League sources tell The Stein Line that Washington made a two-year offer to bring Westbrook back to the nation’s capital. Sources say Westbrook — not the team — is the party that ended those talks. The 37-year-old apparently balked at the specific terms of the offer and/or the role presented and has decided to stop playing instead.
“It was our Jake Fischer, of course, who first revealed Sacramento’s interest in bringing Westbrook back for a second season in the above article on Aug. 3, but … same thing. A reduced role behind lottery pick Darius Acuff Jr. compared to the role Westbrook had last season did not appeal to him.”
You seriously doubt the Wizards‘ offer was the reason Westbrook turned them down. He signed a two-year, $6.8 million deal with the Denver Nuggets in 2024 with a player option for the second year and then a one-year, $3.6 million deal with the Kings in 2025.
Would Westbrook have balked at even a two-year contract worth about $8 million from the Wizards? It seems unlikely.
This rejection most probably had to do with the role the Wizards, whom Westbrook played for in 2020-21, were offering. Trae Young is the undisputed starter at point guard, and you’d imagine young Bub Carrington would be the backup.
Carrington averaged 10.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game for the Wizards in 2025-26, his sophomore season. You’d imagine the team wouldn’t want to stunt his development by making him the third choice. So, that’s likely the role Westbrook was offered, and he likely balked at that. The 37-year-old would’ve wanted to play, not just be a veteran locker room presence teaching youngsters the way.
We get to the Kings now, and this one is more interesting. When Westbrook signed with them in 2025, he was coming in as the backup to Dennis Schroder. The nine-time All-Star quickly won the starting job, though, and finished the 2025-26 season with averages of 15.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game.
It could be that Westbrook believes he earned a starting role with the Kings for next season, considering he was one of the few bright spots last season. It is also possible that he was told last year that he could get into the lineup if he outplayed Schroder, but that obviously wouldn’t be the case with Darius Acuff Jr.
The Kings selected Acuff with the No. 7 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. He is the piece they’re going to build around, and they’re going to live with whatever mistakes he makes as a rookie.
Acuff averaged 20.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game for the Kings in the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League. He shot just 35.0% from the field and might struggle a fair bit at the start.
Sitting on the bench through that might not have appealed to Westbrook. We’ll only find out for sure if he speaks on this subject, though. Time will tell if he will.
Westbrook has retired after 18 seasons in the NBA, during which he averaged 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. He won an MVP, two scoring titles, three assists titles, and is the league’s all-time leader for triple-doubles with 209.
