Kevin Durant didn’t need much time to understand just how unexpected Russell Westbrook’s retirement was. He found out the same way a lot of people did: by getting flooded with messages and checking the news after waking up to it on a plane without WiFi.
“I was on a plane coming back from somewhere, and I had fell asleep, and I didn’t have WiFi on the plane, and then it just kicked in, and then I got a bunch of texts," Durant said. "Somebody was like, ‘Yo, you want to talk about Russell’s retirement?’
And I’m like, ‘What the f--k?’ I look at Shams - you know you always go to Shams’ tweets - and it was shocking, man."
Westbrook’s retirement ends an 18-season NBA career that made him one of the defining stars of the 2010s. He spent his first 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he became a one-time MVP, turned the triple-double into his calling card and stacked up All-Star and All-NBA honors along the way.
For Durant, those Thunder years are impossible to separate from Westbrook’s legacy. The two shared the first eight seasons of Westbrook’s run in Oklahoma City, forming the centerpiece of a team that became the franchise’s first true title threat. They never finished the job with a championship, but the postseason runs they made together still tie their careers together.
Durant said on his “Boardroom Talks” podcast that he still believes Westbrook had more left in the tank.
"I thought he could still play. I feel like he'd be a good veteran presence in a locker room that somebody would want him around," Durant said.
"But I heard he had a couple of offers that he just turned down. He just wanted to step away."
Durant also paid tribute to Westbrook in a lengthy post after the announcement, including an anecdote involving then-OKC assistant Maurice Cheeks that captured the edge and intensity that made Westbrook such a force. Even though the two have not talked in a while, Durant made clear the respect is still there.
Their split in 2016 may have turned ugly, but what they built in Oklahoma City remains part of NBA history. Together, they helped put the small-market Thunder on the map and left behind one of the league’s most memorable star pairings.
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