From a maximum salary of 46.3 million to a basic salary of 780,000! The NBA s fastest regression superstar, it s time to retire if it s time to change to six teams in 5 years.

Editor|Old Kankaan Ball

As the end of the NBA draft, the league's free market began to gradually become active. The Magic and the Grizzlies officially kicked off the trading with a 7-for-1 bet. Then the Rockets also completed Durant's team exchange and provided him with a two-year contract renewal of up to $124 million. The Suns are also connected to strengthen the center and are expected to renew the maximum salary contract of $149.8 million for Booker. Although the Lakers hit a wall in the transaction, they also signed three players in the draft, and James Doncic welcomed help. It has to be said that this summer will definitely become one of the few crazy trading offseasons in NBA history.

, and according to the latest report by TA reporter Sam Amick, the Kings have no intention of completing an early contract renewal with core LaVine and are open to the various possibilities of any lineup, and they are willing to listen to any player's offer. At the same time, the team's management is also actively exploring the possibility of signing point guards in the free market. In addition to Schroeder and Tyame Jones, the most important signing target is Westbrook.

Last summer, Westbrook and the Nuggets reached a 2-year, $6.7 million basic salary contract, with the Nuggets, with an annual salary of $3.5 million next season. According to previous reports from Marc Stein, Westbrook has rejected the player option for next season and chose to become a full free agent, which also means that it is highly likely to leave the Nuggets again and continue to start its wandering journey. In fact, the Nuggets' failure last season cannot be attributed to Westbrook's performance. On the contrary, except for Jokic and Aaron Gordon, Westbrook is the Nuggets player who wants to win the game the most.

Time goes back to the summer of 2017, and the Thunder sincerely presented Westbrook with a 5-year super maximum salary contract worth $205 million, which was very glorious. Who would have thought that this was also the last dance in Westbrook's peak period. After leaving the Thunder, Westbrook finished the bloody parabola from the peak to the bottom in the next five years. He changed six teams in five years, from the team's superstar to the base salary veteran on the Nuggets' bench, from the maximum salary of 46.3 million to the minimum salary of 780,000 veterans, Westbrook instantly became the fastest-regressing superstar in the entire NBA.

And the cliff-like salary cut of $43.43 million also set the largest salary cut in NBA history, leaving Griffin's previous decline of 29.5 million. The collapse rate of the salary curve is dizzying:

—2018-19 season, 35.65 million in the Thunder period;

—2019-20 season, 37.3 million in the Rockets period;

—2020-21 season, 40.16 million in the Wizards period;

—2021-22 season, 44.21 million in the Lakers period;

—2022-23 season, 3.4 million in the Nuggets period. The cruelty of the NBA is fully demonstrated - the business alliance never pays for feelings. Westbrook's career was instantly cut into two completely different time and space: 11 years before his career, he was the Thunder totem of Oklahoma City; 5 years after his career, he became the fastest regressive superstar in the league.

Since leaving the Thunder in 2019, Westbrook staged a rare "superstar wandering story" in NBA history:

Rockets: failed to reorganize the "MVP backcourt" with Harden;

Wizards: Average triple-double but stopped in the first round;

Lakers: Compatibility with James collapsed;

Jazz: Buy out directly;

Clippers: Take the initiative to cut their salary but cannot escape the transaction;

Jazz: Buy out again;

Nuggets: Recruiting Jokic for the basic salary.

Brutality is that Westbrook was traded four times and bought out twice during these five trips. After five years of moving to six teams, this former regular season MVP repeatedly jumped between trading chips and rumor baggage, and eventually became a basic salary player. Westbrook, who is already 36 years old, has indeed won a lot of honors in his 16-year career:

—25281 points, ranking 23rd in the historical scoring list;

—199 triple-doubles, ranking first in history;

—9501 assists, ranking 9th in history;

—8333 rebounds, only 8 away from the point guard's first in history.

But the shadow under dusk is also clear: he played as a substitute for five consecutive seasons, and averaged only 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game in the regular season, with a shooting percentage of 44.9% and a three-point shooting percentage of 32.3%; in the playoffs, the average data fell to 11.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists, with a shooting percentage of only 39.1%, and a three-point shooting percentage as low as 31.7%.

It is not difficult to see that the legendary point guard's retirement end is slowly approaching. Perhaps one morning when he wakes up, Westbrook will calmly announce his departure!