Russell Westbrook expecting emotional return to Oklahoma City

Russell Westbrook says it will be emotional when he returns to Oklahoma City this week for the first time since his trade to the Rockets.

After playing his first 11 NBA seasons with the Thunder, Rockets star Russell Westbrook is expecting an emotional game Thursday night when Houston visits Oklahoma City for the first time this season.

When asked at Monday’s practice whether it would be emotional for him, the former league MVP said it “definitely will be.”

Regarding his time with the Thunder prior to the July 2019 trade that sent him to Houston, Westbrook said:

Obviously that place is always going to be special to me, because I grew up there. I spent a big part of my career there, met a lot of people there, good organization, great people, nothing but great things come from me being there.

When asked about his fondest memories in Oklahoma City, the eight-time All-Star said he would prefer to discuss that more after Thursday’s game.

At Houston’s practice, Westbrook said:

I could give a long list, but we’ll talk about it after the game. I don’t want to get into it too much before the game going on and all.

In 31 games played this season with the Rockets, Westbrook is averaging 24.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.0 assists in 35.3 minutes per game.

Aside from the Westbrook homecoming factor, it should be a good game Thursday between the Rockets (24-11) and Thunder (20-16) — who currently rank third and seventh, respectively, in the Western Conference standings. Given those placements, it’s entirely possible that the two sides could eventually match up in the first round of the 2020 playoffs.

Houston’s next game comes Wednesday night at Atlanta (8-29), with Westbrook sitting out for planned maintenance on the front end of a back-to-back sequence of games. That should allow Westbrook to be at full strength for his return to Oklahoma City the next night.

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