The Houston Rockets are entering a pivotal offseason with major decisions looming. They have the tenth-overall pick in the draft, a ton of young talent, and a slew of future assets. They also face the pressure of improving in the immediate, and have to strike the right balance between present and future.
Even though Rockets fans are fully locked into what GM Rafael Stone will do this summer, players have their own big decisions to make. This includes former Rockets like Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook has a player option for $3.46 million for the 2025-26 season. On the one hand, he has definitely outplayed that contract with his performance in Denver. On the other hand, he just announced that he is undergoing offseason surgery to repair two breaks on his right hand that he suffered during the season. This will certainly complicate his decision whether to pick up or turn down his option.
Russell Westbrook Has Major Offseason Decision to Make After Injury News
At age 36, Westbrook has an incentive to land one last lucrative, multi-year deal. Many had assumed that he would opt out of his deal to sign a more player-friendly deal this offseason. Whether any teams will be willing to offer that to him after the news of an offseason surgery, however, is up in the air.
Regardless of his decision, the Denver Nuggets also have to make one. Even if Westbrook opts in, the Nuggets may choose to move on from him as the former MVP struggled down the stretch in the playoffs. His reckless style of play and lack of shooting proved too costly for Denver as they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games.
For Rockets fans, that is unfortunately too familiar. After Houston inexplicably traded for Westbrook in exchange for Chris Paul at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, it marked the beginning of the end for the James Harden era in Houston. The Westbrook experiment lasted one season, as he was later traded to the Washington Wizards.
Five years later, Westbrook is still searching for his first ring, and whether he will be doing it in Denver or elsewhere remains to be seen.