It's been six whole seasons since Russell Westbrook last donned the blue, orange, and yellow threads of the OKC Thunder. Now, with the 2025 NBA offseason rapidly approaching, there may be reason to believe a reunion could be feasible.
On Thursday, it was reported by ESPN's Shams Charania that the future Hall of Famer has decided to opt out of his $3.4 million player option with the Denver Nuggets for the 2025-26 season and test the waters of this summer's free agency period.
Though well past his prime years that saw him record several seasons worth of triple-double stat lines, claim nine All-Star nods, and win a league MVP, these past few seasons have shown that Westbrook is still more than capable of providing a contending team quality contributions off the pine, as he finished within the top-nine in Sixth Man of the Year voting twice since 2022-23.
Considering how things are going against the Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals, the Thunder could theoretically use for such a talent in their reserves.
Thunder should consider reunion with Russell Westbrook this summer
To the surprise of essentially everyone, Indiana's bench is currently manhandling Oklahoma City's, as they are leading the charge in several key statistical categories such as points-per-game average (40.7 to 31.3), field goal percentage (53.0 to 47.6), and offensive rating (57.2 to 50.3).
During their gut-punch Game 3 loss that now has them facing a 2-1 series deficit, the Thunder's second unit was outscored by a ridiculous 49-18.
As fans bore witness to during Denver's competitive playoff run, Westbrook is still capable of positively impacting the outcome of a game virtually all by himself, even seeing two games where he dropped 18 or more points against OKC during their seven-game semifinal matchup.
At 36 years old, Westbrook may have certainly lost a step or two, but he still finds himself coming off a 2024-25 campaign where he saw 27.9 minutes a night with the Nuggets while dropping 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds on 44.9 percent shooting.
Eternally loved and revered among Thunder faithful, Russ is already widely considered to be the GOAT player in the franchise's history, and the numbers only strengthen this type of claim.
A potential return to Loud City would simply be the storybook final chapter to his storied career that fans and perhaps even he would love to see come to fruition.
Perhaps this summer, such a dream will finally become a reality.