Russell Westbrook’s 3-word message to Sacramento fans
The Sacramento Kings made a big addition to his roster this week signing Russell Westbrook. Westbrook’s addition was met with mixed reviews from fans and media, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out on the field. But anyway, Westbrook immediately endeared himself to Kings fans with a post on social media going back to the team’s last successful season.
The Kings won the NBA Tournament in 2022-23, when they entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, ending a 17-year drought of missing the postseason. During that year, the Kings adopted the slogan after every win, ‘fire the beam’. The Kings would shoot a purple light from the arena after a win. Westbrook took to social media this week with a ‘light the beam’ response to the Kings’ official account welcoming him to the team.
With Westbrook on the wing, the Kings are looking to end two consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs. They failed to build momentum in 2022-23, and Mike Brown was fired as head coach last December. The Kings ended up promoting interim coach Doug Christie when the 2024-25 season ended.
Westbrook is entering his 18th season in the NBA. He played for the Denver Nuggets last year, appearing in 75 games, including 32 starts, with just over 27 minutes per game. He averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 44.9 percent from the field, 32.3 percent from the three-point line and 66.1 percent from the free throw line.
During the Nuggets’ playoff run, Westbrook averaged 11.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 39.1 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from the three-point line and 70 percent from the free throw line.
When all is said and done, Westbrook has had a career worthy of the Hall of Fame. He is one of only three players, the other two being Oscar Robertson and Nikola Jokic, who averaged a triple-double throughout the season.
2025-10-17 00:21:00
