In what can’t be considered a shocking development, former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook will miss the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season opener against the defending champion Golden State Warriors Tuesday evening in Oakland.
Per Thunder: Russell Westbrook will miss tonight’s season opener against the Golden State Warriors.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 16, 2018
Westbrook missed all of training camp and the preseason after undergoing surgery on his right knee this past summer. The expectation this entire time was that Westbrook would miss at least the start of the regular season.
The soon-to-be 30-year-old guard is coming off a 2017-18 season in which he averaged a triple-double for the second time. In doing so, he put up 25.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game.
With Westbrook out Tuesday, the Thunder will be relying the recently re-signed Paul George to do damage against a Warriors squad that has won three of the past four NBA titles. Not an ideal situation. But there’s no reason to rush Russ back. The NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint.