UCLA Legend's Nightmarish Start To NBA Season Spells Disaster

This former UCLA Bruins star is off to a horrendous start in the 2024-25 NBA season, and it could spell disaster for his career.

Oct 29, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Denver Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook (4) dribbles the ball toward the basket against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of the game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

There was a time when Russell Westbrook was one of the most explosive, dynamic players in the NBA. Those days are long gone.

But while the aging Westbrook — who starred at UCLA for two years between 2006-07 and 2007-08 — has seen his athleticism wane in his twilight years, you would hope that he would at least be able to forge a role as a productive rotation player.

It doesn't look like that will happen, either.

Westbrook signed with the Denver Nuggets back in July, with the Nuggets hoping he would provide them with a valuable depth piece in their quest for another championship.

Based on Westbrook's output in the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign, Denver may be regretting it.

Through the first six games of the season, Westbrook is averaging 8.2 points per game on 23.2/21.1/67.9 shooting splits. That is good for a true-shooting percentage of 35.9 percent.

No, there are no typos there.

While Westbrook does have one 22-point performance under his belt thanks largely in part to going 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in a win over the Brooklyn Nets, the rest of his season has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster thus far.

Most recently, Westbrook logged five points on 2-of-11 shooting against the Utah Jazz. He also went 0-for-4 from the charity stripe.

Perhaps Denver should have seen this coming.

Westbrook's decline in recent years has been remarkably steep, as he has failed to shoot 70 percent from the free-throw line since the 2019-20 campaign.

What's more, he shot just 27.3 percent from three-point range with the Los Angeles Clippers last year, and his true-shooting percentage has hovered around 51 percent the preceding four seasons.

The former MVP has never been a beacon of efficiency, but due to the fact that he was a walking triple-double who could single-handedly take over basketball games, you would live with it.

But Westbrook isn't that dominant force anymore.

The Bruins product turns 36 years old on Nov. 12, and given his sharp dip in productivity, he may be left with no choice but to retire from the hardwood sooner than he hoped.

Westbrook averaged 12.7 points, 4.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game during his final season at UCLA and was ultimately selected by the Seattle Supersonics (who would then become the Oklahoma City Thunder) with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft.

He owns lifetime NBA averages of 21.6 points, 8.1 assists and 7.1 boards a night.

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