With His Latest Contract, Russell Westbrook Has Now Surpassed $350 Million In Career Earnings

The NBA season officially tips off in less than a week. Russell Westbrook, who became a free agent at the end of last season, went all summer without signing with a new team. It looked like maybe no one would pick up the league leader in triple-doubles as he entered his 18th season.

Turns out that Westbrook had been in talks with the Sacramento Kings throughout the past few months, and they've finally aligned on a contract. The team agreed to sign the guard to a one-year deal on the veterans' minimum, which is $3.6 million for the 2025-26 season.

It's a modest deal compared to some of the other massive salaries Westbrook has had in his career, but it does push him over a cool milestone: By signing this deal, he'll surpass $350 million in career earnings.

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Per Sporting News and Basketball Reference, Westbrook has made $348,234,946 in career earnings. By adding another $3.6 million on top of that, he'll top the $350 million mark.

Westbrook has made nine All-Star teams and won the MVP award during the 2016-17 season when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder. That offseason, the Thunder and Westbrook agreed to a five-year deal worth $205 million. In the wake of Kevin Durant leaving to join the Golden State Warriors, Westbrook was going all-in as the face of the franchise.

Except he ultimately only played one season in Oklahoma City under that new contract, which began with the 2018-19 season. The Thunder traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets during the summer of 2019 in a deal that involved future Hall of Famer Chris Paul.

Since then, Westbrook has bounced around several teams, including the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Denver Nuggets. The Kings will be the seventh team he suits up for; he's also been traded to the Utah Jazz twice, but has never played a game for them.

At this stage of his career, Westbrook is no longer the triple-double machine he once was, though he can still be a productive player. He's finished in the top 10 in Sixth Man of the Year voting in each of the past three seasons. He'll slot into a similar bench and mentor role with the Kings. And he'll add to his impressive career totals. He and LeBron James are the only two players to record at least 25,000 points, 8,000 rebounds, and 8,000 assists. If Westbrook notches 75 assists this season, he'll hit 10,000 for his career. He'd be only the eighth player in NBA history to pull off that feat.

Westbrook's physical peak may be behind him. But he's still got the same drive and effort that has served him well since entering the league. And that's helped him reach another lucrative milestone in a career full of impressive accomplishments.