Player Bio

Russell Westbrook was born in Long Beach, California, to Russell Westbrook and Shannon Horton. He has a younger brother, Raynard. Westbrook attended Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, California. He stood only 5-foot-8 as a freshman and did not start on the varsity team until his junior year. He sprouted to 6-foot-3 after his junior season and went on to average 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 2.3 assists as a senior, leading Leuzinger to a 25-4 record. That season, he recorded 14 double-doubles and registered a career-best 51 points in early January. He has won gold medals as a member of Team USA at the 2012 Olympics and the 2010 FIBA World Cup. In 2012, he established the Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation (https://whynotfoundation.org/). The organization's mission is "to inspire the lives of children, empower them to ask 'Why Not?' and teach them to never give up." In partnership with LA Conservation Corps, Westbrook launched the Westbrook/Brownstein Green Tech Program in August of 2019. The program is aimed at providing digital job skills to at-risk young adults. Learn more about Westbrook by following him on Twitter and on Instagram (@russwest44). Westbrook's two seasons at UCLA provided glimpses of what the 6-foot-2 guard would become as a pro. As a freshman, he backed up Darren Collison and Arron Afflalo. He averaged 3.4 points in 9.0 minutes. The Bruins marched to the Final Four, but Westbrook did not play more than eight minutes in any of the games in the NCAA Tournament. The California native moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore because Collison suffered an injury. He provided 12.7 points, 4.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds and won the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year award. UCLA once again advanced to the Final Four, and Westbrook averaged 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the Big Dance. The guard decided to forgo his final two seasons of eligibility and apply for the 2008 NBA Draft. He was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then relocated to Oklahoma City six days later.