OKC Thunder thrilled by Russell Westbrook’s timely return

OKC Thunder fans can rest easy after seeing Russell Westbrook come back from surgery unharmed, but questions about the team remain.

With no official timetable on Russell Westbrook’s return from knee surgery, it was a surprise to see him cleared to play with no minutes restriction for Sunday’s game against the Kings.

Unfortunately, his presence wasn’t enough to lift the derailed OKC Thunder to their first win of the season, but seeing Westbrook in mid-season form was a win in and of itself.

Before fans and the media start hitting the panic button after a third consecutive loss to begin the season, there’s a few things to consider. Without Westbrook on the floor, OKC didn’t do too bad on the west coast to begin the season.

A pair of losses to start the season may not look like much, but the Thunder were in both games until the end. Defense was relatively strong in the opener against Golden State and an untimely cold streak led to a loss against the Clippers.

And even though the Thunder couldn’t put it all together against the Kings with Westbrook on the court, we can rest easy after seeing how well he bounced back from the surgery.

If last season taught us anything, it’s that a fresh roster and coaching changes take time to come together.

And in an almost similar fashion to how last year’s “OK3” was put together at the last second, Westbrook being activated just hours before tip off had to have been a curve ball for the newcomers after playing without him in the first two games.

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Even still, a home game against Sacramento should have been a win. But after watching Westbrook looking as athletic as ever and coming up just short of a triple-double, there shouldn’t be any need to worry.

His debut was much more satisfying than others who returned this year from injury such as Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving, who both clearly needed a game to get their legs back underneath them.

Granted, those injuries were much different than Westbrook’s minor surgery. But anytime the knee is cut open, there’s reason to believe a player may not return the same. So seeing Westbrook doing Westbrook things provided as satisfying as a regular season game win could ever give me.

Now we can officially begin to worry about getting the team back on track. Before you start overreacting, however, remember that Westbrook is the man who carried the team to the playoffs in the 2016-17 season with a much less talented roster. So I don’t think he’s worried about an 0-3 start and neither should fans.