Russell Westbrook’s 14th NBA season is officially over, and apparently there was some pain for him along the way.
The former MVP guard Westbrook made a surprising revelation on Tuesday. In a post to his personal newsletter, Westbrook announced that he was undergoing surgery on his right hand. He added that the procedure would be to fix “two breaks” to his hand that he suffered during the season.
Russell Westbrook announces that he is undergoing right hand surgery pic.twitter.com/mbg1xrvzHL
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) May 27, 2025
The Denver Nuggets added an update of their own about Westbrook. They noted that Westbrook suffered “multiple ligament tears” but is expected to resume full offseason training this summer.
Nuggets have followed up on Russell Westbrook by describing his hand injuries as “multiple ligament tears” https://t.co/T7CuGg9rY1 pic.twitter.com/B9xeR9GzTa
— Law Murray(@LawMurrayTheNU) May 27, 2025
It is unclear when exactly Westbrook, now 36 years old, sustained the injury. But he did not look hampered at all during Denver’s first-round playoff victory over the LA Clippers, posting a solid 13.8 points per game on 43/42/71 shooting splits. It was in the next round against Oklahoma City though where Westbrook fell back to earth. During that series, a seven-game loss for the Nuggets, Westbrook managed just 9.9 points per game on woeful 35/22/70 shooting splits.
The news about Westbrook, who already suffered a broken hand last season, comes ahead of an interesting summer for him. He holds a $3.5 million player option with the Nuggets for next season but may have outperformed that figure after averaging 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game overall this year.
Westbrook still has not decided on what he will do with that player option though. In fact, he got snarky with a reporter who asked him about the topic after Denver’s season-ending loss.
