Russell Westbrook is one of the most explosive players in the National Basketball Association and has become known as one of the best modern players in the professional league.
His drive and passion for the sport have helped him earn multiple gold Olympic medals and allowed him to be recognized for playing in the National Basketball Association.
While some great athletes get lazy after they feel that they’ve peaked, Westbrook has maintained his motivation by always thinking back to how much he loved the sport as a child.
How Many Rings Does Russell Westbrook Have?
Russell Westbrook doesn’t have any rings yet because he has yet to win an NBA championship.
Although he has earned many awards during his career with the National Basketball Association, he has yet to earn himself a ring.
Westbrook inherited his love of basketball from his father, and he used to play alongside his brother while they were growing up in Long Beach, California.
His father would create drills for Westbrook and his brother to complete, helping them become the best basketball players at their local playground.
While their father helped sharpen their athletic skills, their mother Shannon Horton made sure they were just as dedicated to their education.
Russell Westbrook was an honor student throughout high school as well as a practiced athlete.
By the time Westbrook was a freshman in high school, he was turning heads with his impressive height.
Although his freshman year proved to be a wonderful year, he was devastated in his sophomore year of high school when his teammate Khelcey Barrs died of a heart attack after a pickup game.
Barrs was only 16 years old.
Despite the tragedy, Westbrook was able to make his way back to the court and eventually work his way into the starting lineup by his junior year.
The summer before his senior year, the future basketball star went through another massive growth spurt.
Russell Westbrook’s senior year proved to be the best of his high school basketball career, with the guard scoring an average of more than 25 points per game and him even landing his first slam dunk.
It was his senior performance that brought him to the attention of UCLA.
Just as he had done in high school, Westbrook was a key player for UCLA’s team and even helped them reach the Final Four twice.
After his sophomore year, Westbrook was drafted into the professional league.
Beginning His Career With The Oklahoma City Thunder
Russell Westbrook was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder as a first-round pick alongside D.J. White in 2008.
This was around the same time that the SuperSonics had moved from Seattle, meaning both Westbrook and his new team were entering a new era.
For his rookie contract, this treasured guard was set to make $6 million over the course of his first two seasons.
At that time, Westbrook was fresh out of UCLA with an average of 12.7 points and 4.3 assists, which he had earned during his sophomore year.
In his rookie year, Russell Westbrook was chosen for the National Basketball Association’s All-Rookie First Team and averaged at least 15 points per game during his first season.
When Westbrook was paired with Kevin Durant, they became an unbeatable pair.
The playstyle between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook proved to be enough to help the Oklahoma City Thunder get to the 2011 Western Conference Finals.
During the following season, Westbrook was averaging 23.6 points per game and eventually got the Thunder to the National Basketball Association Finals against LeBron James’s Miami Heat.
Although the game was marketed as the ultimate match between James and Durant, it was Westbrook who played vibrantly and with enough might to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder above water during the game.
By Westbrook’s third season in the National Basketball Association, he had become the fifth player in the league’s history to ever achieve 4,000 points, 1,500 assists, and 1,000 rebounds.
Reflecting on Westbrook’s time with the team, Thunder general manager Sam Presti claimed that Westbrook is the most important player in Thunder history.
Westbrook’s effect on the team, Oklahoma City, and the entire state is unforgettable, which is why his old team wants him back.
Trading To The Houston Rockets
In 2019, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul.
Although he had initially been excited about being traded to the team, he quickly found that the grass isn’t greener on the Rockets’ side.
After only a year on the team, Westbrook found that he was being treated as he thought he would be and quickly wanted off the team.
By this time, Westbrook was an eight-time All-Star and felt that he deserved to be treated like an All-Star.
The All-Star guard was quick to go to the team’s officials, informing them that he didn’t appreciate their lack of accountability or the culture that they were creating for their players.
He wanted to be on a team in which players like him would have more say, one that shared the same values as him.
Although no names have been revealed, many Rockets fans believe that former head coach Mike D’Antoni was the one to blame for a majority of Westbrook’s problems.
However, critics of this idea believe that the team’s problems have gone even further than just the time with D’Antoni.
To help soothe the tension created during the entire time, the Houston Rockets decided to replace their former head coach with Stephen Silas.
Even with this new head coach, the damage between the Rockets and Westbrook had already been done.
Despite the Rockets’ efforts, Westbrook was immediately ready to move on and wanted nothing to do with rekindling his relationship with the Texas team.
Although Westbrook was able to be reunited with former Oklahoma City Thunder player, James Harden, nothing seemed to be enough to get the All-Star to change his mind.
Just as quickly as he came in, Westbrook left the Rockets for the Washington Wizards.
Becoming A Washington Wizard
Russell Westbrook was ready to leave the Houston Rockets as soon as possible, and he didn’t care where he landed next.
Like Westbrook, John Wall wanted to explore new teams and is also a guard.
To meet the desires of both guards, the Houston Rockets agreed to trade Westbrook for Wall and one of the Wizards’ lottery-protected 2023 first-round National Basketball Association draft picks.
The trade had been discussed for months before general managers, Tommy Sheppard and Rafael Stone finally decided to get on the phone with one another to go over trade details.
After a productive telephone conversation, the deal only took a few hours to complete.
The hope in this trade wasn’t just for what each traded player could bring to the court, but the trade was hopefully going to make shooting guards James Harden and Bradley Beal stay with their respective teams longer.
For Russell Westbrook, this trade to the Washington Wizards meant another season of working alongside coach Scott Brooks.
Brooks had been the coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder when Westbrook was playing for them as a rookie.
The Houston Rockets had originally brought Westbrook to their team to attempt to keep James Harden from being traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
With Westbrook out of the picture, there was very little reason for Harden to stay with the team.
It was a risky move for the Washington Wizards to trade John Wall for Westbrook because of the injury he sustained and catching the coronavirus at the end of the 2019–2020 season.
During a seeding schedule, Westbrook strained his right quadriceps, which left him underperforming once he was able to return.
When Westbrook was traded to the Wizards, he still had $133 million over three seasons left in his current contract.
Who Does Russell Westbrook Play For Now?
Russell Westbrook is currently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, which has been a controversial topic among Laker fans.
Shortly after his arrival to the team in 2021, there were already rumors running rampant that his new team was going to be trading him soon.
Los Angeles team officials had to announce that the Lakers had no intention of trading Westbrook because they refused to give up “additional assets” to send him to another team.
The officials expected the All-Star to exercise his $47 million player option for the 2022–2023 season.
Just as Westbrook had found with his previous teams, the first year with the Lakers was difficult for him and led Westbrook to consider moving on to the next team until he found the right one.
However, the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to be proactive and decided to fire head coach Frank Vogel and replace him with the much preferred Darvin Ham.
The team officials felt that it would be a waste of their resources to so quickly give up on the All-Star when they know that they previously had a troublesome coach.
The Lakers wanted to give their team a year with coach Darvin Ham before they decided who they would keep and who they would get rid of.
By giving coach Ham time to bond with the team and learn what they need, the Los Angeles Lakers hope to save themselves money and stress.
Coach Ham wanted to focus the upcoming season on diversifying the roles of each player, with him pointing to Westbrook in particular.
By switching the team’s mindset to focus on the defense, Ham hopes to spread the load in each game evenly among LeBron James, Westbrook, and Anthony Davis.
Giving each player multiple playstyles helps prevent the players from getting burnt out.
Whom Is Russell Westbrook Married To?
Russell Westbrook is married to his college sweetheart, Nina Earl, whom he met while playing basketball at UCLA.
Like Westbrook, his wife has always been a dedicated athlete driven to success by her love of athleticism.
Earl was able to attend UCLA thanks to a basketball scholarship she had earned while attending Diamond Ranch High School.
Although Earl grew up playing whatever sport she could be a part of, her basketball skills took priority in high school when she led her school to two California Interscholastic Federation championships.
After earning the title of California Interscholastic Federation Player of the Year, Nina Earl earned her scholarship to UCLA where she was given the opportunity to play any position her team needed her for.
She was the fastest player on the team by far and played skillfully, no matter what position she played.
Russell Westbrook noticed his future wife on the basketball court.
The couple started dating shortly after that point and have remained happily together to this day.
During a 2013 interview, Westbrook was eager to praise his wife’s accomplishments.
He was excited to point out that she wasn’t just an amazing athlete, but she was also incredibly intelligent.
That year, Nina Earl had been working toward her master’s degree in psychology.
Westbrook appreciates how his wife always knows what she wants from her life, and her certainty often helps him cope with the world around him.
On September 4th of 2014, Westbrook proposed to Earl, giving her a ring that he designed himself and had an estimated value of $700,000.
A year later, the couple got married in Beverly Hills in front of guests that included Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, and Keri Hilson.
The wedding even included a performance of the song Nothing Even Matters by Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo for the newlyweds’ first dance.
Does Russell Westbrook Have Any Children?
Russell Westbrook has three children, including a son, Noah Westbrook, and twin daughters, Skye and Jordan Westbrook.
While Westbrook has had an incredibly successful career in the National Basketball Association, his greatest achievement is the strong bond he shares with his family.
Only two years after Westbrook married his college sweetheart, the happy couple welcomed their first child in May of 2017.
Luckily, the birth of their first child went smoothly and the couple was elated to be welcoming twins to the family nearly two years later.
When Nina Earl was pregnant with twins Skye and Jordan, the pregnancy was incredibly complicated and high-risk.
Despite preparing for everything they could, unforeseen complications arose during the birth of the twins.
In a post in April of 2021, Earl discussed how scary the birth was when complications arose.
Earl even pointed out that a woman dies from a pregnancy-related cause every 12 hours, with 60% of those deaths being preventable with the right treatment and frequent medical observation.
The reason that the couple decided to open up about how scary pregnancy can be as a part of the campaign for the March of Dimes in an attempt to raise awareness of the discriminatory practices found in the United States healthcare system.
Although getting to the point of having children may have been scary for the couple, both parents are incredibly grateful to have their children.
Russell Westbrook frequently features his children on his social media pages, including the cute holiday photos they have and the games where the family comes to cheer on their father.
Although Westbrook may have accomplished incredible heights in his professional basketball career, he seems to smile even wider when spending time with his family than when he wins a game.
Does Russell Westbrook Have His Own Fashion Brand?
Yes, Russell Westbrook started Honor the Gift in 2016.
He wanted this fashion collection to heavily reflect his California upbringing.
Honor the Gift released its first fashion collection in late 2017, which included everything from $18 bandanna-pattern socks to $180 paint-splattered jumpsuits.
The name of the collection comes from Westbrook’s faith and his belief that everything that has been given has been a gift from God.
Westbrook wanted to honor the gifts that he has been given by using them to do something positive for the world around him.
The first collection that the National Basketball Association All-Star ever released with the brand sold out in less than 24 hours, which ended up being incredibly nerve-wracking and exciting for the basketball star.
He felt that it was a sign that he had designed the right kind of clothing for the demographic that he was trying to reach.
The demographic that Westbrook was trying to reach was the underserved, inner-city crowd that was looking for designs that were more sophisticated while remaining simple.
Although Honor the Gift started as a men’s clothing brand, it has expanded to include designs for women and children as well.
The goal for the brand was originally to keep things more unisex, but Westbrook’s inspiration from women’s fashion eventually led him to try his hand at women’s clothing and later children’s clothing.
Honor the Gift is currently an online-exclusive brand, but Westbrook has plans to open up brick-and-mortar stores in Los Angeles.
He is currently waiting for the right building to become available while the brand continues to grow steadily.
Unlike many celebrity brands that simply get the seal of approval from their flagship celebrity, Westbrook is a part of the design projects for his clothing from the beginning until the end.
What Does Russell Westbrook’s Why Not? Foundation Do?
Russell Westbrook’s Why Not? Foundation focuses on at-risk communities to help create opportunities for at-risk youth by creating more structured educational systems, providing workforce development, and making access to mental health services more available.
After founding his organization in 2012, Westbrook wanted to give the underserved youth the confidence to say “Why Not? I can do it.”
This was a mindset that Westbrook adopted himself when he was young and it helped him reach goals that he would have never thought possible prior.
Not only does the Why Not? Foundation does its own work, but it also works with other non-profit organizations to help make a difference.
Some of their partner organizations include LA Promise Fund, Code.Chella, Comp-U-Dopt, and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps.
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