Russell Westbrook’s decision on contract, retirement gets most confusing update

Russell Westbrook’s basketball future is uncertain.

The Denver Nuggets veteran has a player option for next season as part of his contract. He’s also 36 years old, so there’ll be at least some speculation on a possible retirement.

The Denver Gazette’s beat writer, Vinny Benedetto, was brave enough to go up to Westbrook in the locker room after their Game 7 loss to ask Westbrook about his future.

Here’s how Benedetto explained the exchange on X:

“Tried to get Russell Westbrook in the locker room to see he had made a decision on his player option for next season,” Benedetto wrote. “He looked at his watch and asked what I was wearing tomorrow. When I said I didn’t know, he said ‘exactly’ and walked off. Nuggets aren’t doing exit interviews.”

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That’s quite amusing, on the one hand.

On the other, it’s a bit of a rude way to treat a reporter.

Either way, it doesn’t clear up anything about what Russ might do next.

Westbrook is coming off one of the worst playoff series in NBA history. He was an astonishing minus-92 over the seven games against the Thunder with more turnovers than assists, a 34% FG and a 21% from 3.

It seems like if Westbrook wants to keep playing and didn’t mind his time in Denver, it might be wise to accept his player option. There may not be a ton of teams that would want to sign him in free agency.

If Westbrook wants to retire, it’d be a depressing way to go out for an all-time great. He was minus-34 in Game 7.

It sounds like Russ will let the basketball world know what he’s going to do on his own timeline.

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