Entering his 17th NBA season, Russell Westbrook joins Nikola Jokic, the league's reigning MVP and the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets, in their pursuit of returning to the NBA Finals. The Nuggets, who the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated in the second round of last year's playoffs, will look to make a deeper push in 2025. After a recent workout video of Westbrook drew mixed reviews on social media last week, a reporter asked Westbrook if he's discussed a potential triple-double race between him and Jokic in 2024-25 in a clip from Nuggets Media Day posted to X, formerly Twitter.

“No, we have not,” Westbrook replied. “And, I don't know if there's a race or not, but we have not talked about it at all. Nikola is the best player in the world, and he's playing at the highest level. All we care about, and he'll probably tell you the same, is winning basketball games. That's it.”

Westbrook is happy he doesn't have to scout for playing against Jokic anymore. As the two-time MVP's teammate, Westbrook is glad to be on the Nuggets' side of opposing teams game-planning against the Joker in 2024-25, per NBA's X, formerly Twitter.

“Good luck. That's it. You just hope that he misses; there's nothing you can do,” Westbrook said. “You want to be able to be on a team with somebody that's literally unguardable, and I'm grateful to be on this team.”

 

Russell Westbrook's offseason workout draws mixed fan reviews

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Coming off of a campaign where Russell Westbrook averaged career lows in points (11.1) and assists (4.5), suffice it to say his days over averaging a triple-double (22.9 points, 10.7 assists, and 11.5 rebounds in 2019-20) to compete with Nikola Jokic are behind him. Still, reaching the impressive feat in four out of five seasons in Westbrook's heyday between 2016 and 2021 will never be forgotten. Perhaps a productive, bounce-back season with the Nuggets in 2024-25 will do the same for fans watching Westbrook practice corner threes in a workout video that went viral last week.

In the video, the nine-time All-Star shoots deep corner threes with his feet touching the gym's out-of-bounce line, per BelikeMike's X, formerly Twitter.

Coming off 2023-24, Westbrook shot at a 27.3% clip from behind the 3-point arc, his lowest shooting percentage in 14 years (22.1% in 2009-10). Fans were conflicted about how often they wanted to see the two-time scoring champion attempting threes in 2024-25.

In addition to training for the upcoming season, Westbrook opened a new school in Los Angeles. Westbrook Academy is expected to serve over 400 middle and high school students.