The two rounds of playoffs have a match! The basic salary is good and bad, and the next stop is the Thunder?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Hui

36-year-old Russell Westbrook ended another season, and his exit also marks the full farewell of the current first-tier star (Jankududunway) in this season. With the situation of becoming a free agent again this summer, Westbrook's future is still attracting attention.

As a basic salary player, Westbrook's overall performance this season can be described as remarkable, although in this round of series with the Thunder, Westbrook averaged 9.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists, 35% shooting percentage, 22% three-point shooting percentage and -92 plus or negative value are bad enough. However, the team was able to eliminate the speedboat in the first round, and Westbrook has made great contributions, which can be said to be due to the merits and demerits. After all, Westbrook is just a basic salary player, and throughout his career, people are more willing to talk about Westbrook's passion and frankness, and people are often a little indulging in his performance on the court.

In fact, being able to reach the semi-finals with the team and stop at the tiebreak is Westbrook's best playoff result since 2016. After Durant left the Thunder in 2016, Westbrook missed the playoffs once in 9 seasons, stopped at the first round six times, and reached the semi-finals twice. It is worth mentioning that the Thunder was able to reach the Western Conference Finals this time, which also created the best result after Durant left the team. The entanglement between Westbrook, the Thunder and Durant can officially come to an end this season.

However, there is still a question mark whether the 36-year-old Westbrook will continue to stay in the Nuggets during the offseason. Westbrook has the option of player and he can decide to stay or not, but even if he chooses to stay, it is not ruled out that the Nuggets will send him away, because with the second finals of the playoffs again, everyone realized that the Nuggets' lineup needs to be improved, and Jokic directly stated that the team needs to strengthen their substitute strength. Can Westbrook's existence improve the Nuggets' substitute strength? At some point during the season, Westbrook can indeed do it, but overall, Westbrook is still not a sufficiently efficient and stable substitute. Moreover, he will be one year older next season, and his performance will become more difficult to maintain.

After the game, Westbrook was asked by reporters whether he would implement the player options for next season. In response, Westbrook asked the reporter: What clothes do you plan to wear tomorrow? The reporter was speechless about this. Indeed, Wei Shao obviously needs some time to think about his future.

Back to Thunder? This is the most popular option at present. After watching the former team return to the Western Conference Finals with their own eyes, Westbrook will undoubtedly feel a lot. Although he played as an opponent in this round of the series, Westbrook still received a lot of applause and cheer from Thunder fans. In Goose City, Westbrook undoubtedly still has a very high popularity and status. Therefore, returning to the Thunder at the end of his career and having the opportunity to compete for the championship will be a good choice for Westbrook.