The Oklahoma City Thunder announce they will be retiring Russell Westbrook’s #0 Jersey in new video announcement
That jersey retirement night is going to go crazy at that arena and I’m really hoping its when they play the rockets. Kinda sucks he’ll have to wait a few years to get a statue if I had to guess since theyll most likely do it after the move
I think they play the Knicks that night, but yeah it’s gonna be nuts in the Paycom Center
NBC game too, so gets that national broadcast love
yup Knicks
Just checked my half season ticket dates. Nope, might have to get some more tickets.
Do they have to wait for Steven Adams to retire so they can include him boxing out in the statue?
Adams statue should be him leveling pat bev on that screen
Should be out the front of every stadium tbf. Fuck pat bev
Lmao this has me weak
no hate no shadehe’s gonna get a statue?
I think so far he’s the GOAT OKC player but they got another guy rn who legit already got a ring.
OKC as a city is essentially built off his back, of course he’s getting a statue lol
I mean teams can build multiple statues, and like you said he was / is their franchise goat at least for the time being.
Also, they don’t even get Shai without Russ since there’s no world PG signs and extends with them if they don’t have Russ. He’s responsible for so much good for that franchise and is a HUGE reason why that franchise was so successful as a relocation team. If it wasn’t for him who even knows what an NBA franchise looks like in Oklahoma today.
Chris Paul proved OKC could have a team but Russ was why OKC is the franchise they are imo
He should never have a statue 😂😂
I’m a joyless person who doesn’t really like basketball and can’t understand why a franchise legend would be celebrated.
Did you mean to type this? I dunno why you would but good on you to be honest at least
No I meant to type he shouldn’t have a statue. The bar is that low I guess
I know it’s a jersey retirement but how funny would it be if this was actually some WWE style vignette and it’s actually them announcing he’s re-signing with the team for one last ride and is waiting until February to debut
Can they have Oklahoma-native Jim Ross announce his entrance?
“Bah gawd, it’s the New Thunder Order!”
Russ in a “Suck it” shirt.
Would be amazing.
I would honestly be stoked. After the emotional toll this season has started out with - it would genuinely raise my spirits to see him in the jersey again.
Retiring then unretiring on the same ceremony
What a perfect ending to a historic day
I’m a OKC hater and I would love to see that happen. He can still play offensively at a high level, it’s the defense that he’s not so great at.
My second favorite player ever man, im watching that ceremony
… alright I’ll bite. Whose number 1?
Give me IGUODALA
Alexey Shved
Gotta be Jamaal Magloire
Hornet great
Harold Miner
Scott Padgett
Vin baker
Nate Wolters
Brandon Bass
Shake Milton
mario chalmers
Michael Doleac
Brandon Roy
Kyle Anderson
Gonna guess Kobe or Wade
The disrespect to Furkan Korkmaz
Kevin 🐐 Martin
Carlos Delfino
At the start of this year one of my students ask who my favorite player was and I asked the same question back that I always do. Current or retired? He said retired andfor a long time now my answer has been AI, so that’s what I said. About 15 minutes later I realized Russ had retired, I got visibly sad at that thought.
Your name says Herro. But as a Heat fan, there’s also a good chance it’s Wade.
Who’s number one?
carried the 2017 thunder and got called a statpadder even though he was the only reason they won games.
durant is a snake
You all think Reddit is bad now? Back then it felt like even more of a toxic cess pool against our man, Russ.
In the absence of hot take culture, russ would be a universally respected league elder.
The 2017 MVP race was insane and then the Rockets and Thunder faced each other in the playoffs.
It was insane. The Reddit hivemind is deranged
I’ll never stop hyping up Russ, that season was magical especially their final game of the season.
IMO OKC that year was must watch TV
WHAT A PERFECT ENDING, TO A HISTORIC DAY
I don’t know man, the Thunder/SGA hate boner got pretty bad last two seasons. Our elimination thread from 6 months ago is like a top 5 post of all time on this sub.
He was a statpadder but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a motherfucker and one of the most exciting players ever.
One of the most sickly unselfish players ever. His worst trait was overpassing, but it takes a lot of watching him to understand.
And I loved every second of it all.
🐍 🐍 🐍 oldheads never forgot
Reddit fucking hates ours stars if they aren’t KD.
What are you smoking fam
Westbrook used to get crucified on here and now SGA is Reddit enemy number 1.
Can I have permission to hate on Gilgeous-Alexander in exchange for absolutely loving Westbrook?
Wait, why is Durant a snake?
Very long, no arms or legs, lays eggs
Now this makes more sense
he go sssSssSssssSs
yeah you right a 73-9 team was missing a top 5 player.
I get that going there wasn’t exactly the hardest road, but I thought calling him a snake for that is odd.
It’s just from the fan’s perspective. Lost a close playoff series where we started off 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals. Barely a month later our star player signs with the team that beat us and the Thunder just aren’t able to be the same competitors after that for several years. Obviously the players have to do what’s best for themselves because honestly we are also going to be the first to bash on players when they don’t perform well, but since it’s sports and having villains keeps things interesting, we are going to call him a snake! 🐍
Sports are emotional as fuck. It does not really offend me when some women snarkily say that sports is drama for men - it kind of is.
And betrayals hurt.
And his road was the easiest taken ever by anybody in sports history, so he added to the perception with his clunky PR shit. It is like a guy divorcing his lovely wife right after they have a tragic news about their upcoming baby being stillborn, and then leaving his grieving tradwife for a flashy plastic tits supermodel, and then calling himself a hero of the situation.
Are you the grandma that just came out of a 10 year coma everyone has been talking about?
They should do it when they play the rockets lol.
It seems like it is against the Knicks at home
Hopefully (I’m confident) we’ll be decently healthy and figure out some good rotations to get a win for Westbrook Day
NBC game, too
Well it’d be a bit surprising if it wasn’t at home
I’ll forever love Russ for his one year here. He brought a fire to our squad and got great chemistry with Jokic. Wish we got him a ring but alas.
Best passer Jok played with.
The only player to lead Jokic with passes to where Jokic SHOULD be. What a combo, two absolute passing savants. They would be like the best duo ever in their peaks.
I also loved him here. Just like with Rondo. Kings fans might feel a diff way but our franchise has been so inept…I enjoy the little things
rookie year as a Sonic he was a spark plug with Durant as the engine. they were a fun pair and played the game the right way.
This is awkward…
Damn. The Sonics leaving broke him, so he’s receded into a fantasy world where Russ was a great Supersonic and the team never left. I guess everyone deals with trauma differently.
Russ never played a game as a sonic
Damn boy you’re full of BS hahahaha
Well deserved
Whoever had the idea of opening that video with the O then KC needs a raise fr… as a Thunder fan that gave me chills in the best way
im all for giving people in all kinds of production professions raises but its kinda right there really
Hopefully they give him a statue(rn Shai’s obviously getting both jersey and statue)
Probably have to wait until they move arenas in 2028-2029 before they put up a statue unfortunately
I think the ring culture is dumb, but I’m ok reserving statues for guys who won rings and/or stayed with a franchise for their whole career.
AI and Barkley never won rings and they both have statues. Depends on how historic the franchise is, really.
Nah. There are so many stars who have meant so much to a team who have never won a ring. It’s unfair to gatekeep it from them only because they didn’t win the hardest trophy in the sport, one that’s very team-centric, mind you. Take Dame, for example. He’s never once had a team nearly as good enough as most of the other stars of his era, and yet he still took them to a WCF appearance and achieved as much as he could. We really gonna penalize him for something largely out of his control?
It’s not just the career, he also been active in OKC community, he’s said it’s a second home to him, he has invested into OKC.
It’s gonna be just a referee jersey and statue right? Gotta give the credit where it’s due
Show me where russ hurt you
I meant for SGA, sorry that was unclear.
Show me where shai hurt you
The Shai statue needs to be that picture of him flopping with his face all contorted.
I don’t know if we will see a guard like Russ again
If you started watching in the 2010s era, you’d think it’s normal for guards to attack the rim like that
I love the current iteration of the Thunder but man, high flying high motor guards sure don’t grow on trees
They’re very few and far between - especially nowadays with the 3 point shooting increase. I don’t think we’ll ever see someone with Russ’ motor though. He seemingly never got tired.
I’m crying, this shit means something to me man
Yeah put some respect on his name. The narrative the past several seasons is unfortunate because he did not play well and people got to talking sideways about him.
But he should be remembered for the absolute beast he was and not by his worst years. I don’t want to be judged by my worst moments either.
Past several seasons he was one of the most cost-efficient and impactful 6th men in the league.
He took on every role he was asked on LAC and DEN. Setting screens, guarding the best player on other teams…
his one season miscast in LAL with the dumbest fanbase in the league clouds how well he adjusted.
He got a ton of hate even before LA. A lot of people disagreed with his MVP award and some people had some good takes and a lot of others just flamed him with no coherent thoughts.
Going to the Lakers with a top 2 media reach and then having an odd fit while he was there just gave a lightning rod to the haters and is really unfortunate.
He had flaws and often big ones, but no teammate or coach ever said one bad thing about him.
He wasn’t on a minimum with the Lakers yet so you could guess why the hate is there plus he’s not cost efficient and was expected to be a starter
It is the only season of his career where his production did not match his contract. He was criminally underpaid ever since.
No contest here - he was a horrible fit with LeBron (who is as much to blame as Russ for that), and had a bad season.
But the LAL media could not blame the two top stars (idiots like Jovan Buha made their name basically bullshitting about Russ) who also had so-so years.
Happy for Russ🙏🏽
Deserved. Well done Russ.
Ppl hating on Westbrook in the comments never saw him in his prime in OKC.
“He shouldn’t get a statue” stfu and watch some highlights lmao
The player that made me a fan, so happy to retire his number, just wish he could have been a part of the team finally getting the chip man
Happy for Brodie, well deserved
Rightfully so
Our goat man
They even did it on Russell Westbrook day!
Needed something to break that string of bad news
First player to retire his jersey then suit up with a new number to secure a roster spot on the same day then help a 0.500 team claw their way back to the WCF
Well deserved, congrats Russ
Made me tear up a bit.
good. it’s the least that he deserves.
I have such distinct memories of when I realized Russell was a generational talent. I believe it was early in his rookie year when he went for a fast break on a dunk and completely back ironed it (lol). But I remember thinking in that moment “this guy has athleticism I’ve never seen before.” Thanks for all the memories, Russ.
BRODIE! ❤️
My GOAT, saw him beat the kings on a buzzer 3 in sac during the 17-18 season
The fire he brought to the game is something I always modeled and respected.
Well deserved.
Say whatever you want about Westbrook you have to respect the passion and the aggression he took with the game.
this guy deserves a better retirement ceremony and his flowers.