Russell Westbrook Jr. (born November 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a five-time NBA All-Star and a two-time NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP), winning consecutive awards in 2015 and 2016. He is also a five-time All-NBA Team member. Westbrook played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and earned third-team all-conference honors in the Pac-10. He was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then relocated to Oklahoma City six days later. Westbrook has represented the United States national team twice, winning gold medals in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics.Standing at 6 feet 3 inches tall (1.91 m) and weighing 200 pounds (91 kg), Westbrook is a point guard who has established himself as one of the most athletic players in NBA history. He is also widely known for playing at a high level of intensity and for being able to keep that intensity for the majority of his playing time. Westbrook will often look to push the pace of the game for transition points and attack the basket. Though attacking the rim is his forte, he will frequently pull up for medium range jump shots. Westbrook regularly creates good scoring opportunities for his teammates, resulting in him averaging over seven assists per game for his career. Westbrook is widely recognized as one of the best all-around players in the NBA, having recorded 54 triple-doubles over his career (49 regular season, 5 playoff). His 49 regular season triple-doubles is sixth-most all-time and his five playoff triple-doubles is eighth-most all-time. A weakness cited in Westbrook's game is his three-point shooting. He averages 30% on three-point field goal attempts for his career
Westbrook was born in Long Beach, California, to Russell Westbrook Sr. and Shannon Horton. He has a younger brother named Raynard. Growing up in Hawthorne, Westbrook and his best friend, Khelcey Barrs III, had hopes of going to UCLA and playing together. However, in May 2004, Barrs tragically died from an enlarged heart during a pickup game. Westbrook entered Leuzinger High School as an unheralded 5-foot-8, 140-pound freshman point guard with size 14 shoes. He didn't start on his school's varsity team until his junior year, and did not receive his first college recruiting letter until the summer before his senior year. Westbrook reached his adult height of 6′3″ that same summer.During his senior year, Westbrook averaged 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 2.3 assists and led them to a 25-4 record. That same season, he recorded 14 double-doubles, scored 30 or more points on eight separate occasions, and registered a career-best 51 points at Carson on January 6, 2006. Westbrook did not attract much attention from top college basketball programs until Ben Howland offered him a scholarship to play for the UCLA Bruins after Jordan Farmar declared for the NBA draft.
Westbrook wore number 0 throughout his career at UCLA. In his freshman year, he played as a back up to Darren Collison and was primarily used as a defender and energy player off the bench. Westbrook averaged 3.4 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists on the year. The next season, Collison was injured and Westbrook was named the starter. He finished the season averaging 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.6 steals. At the end of the year, he was named All-Pac-10 Third Team and won the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. UCLA advanced to the Final Four during each of Westbrook's seasons with the team. In 2007, they lost to eventual national champion Florida, 76–66 and in 2008, they lost 78–63 to Memphis. After two years at UCLA, he decided to forgo his final two years and enter the 2008 NBA draft.
