Nine-time All-Star guard Russell Westbrook is picking up his $4 million option and returning to the LA Clippers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Westbrook averaged 11.1 points, 5 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season.
Westbrook’s first full season with the Clippers hardly went as he expected. He began the season as the starting point guard but the late-October trade for James Harden led to Westbrook becoming a sixth man for his second straight team.
But unlike during his brief tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, Westbrook’s move to the bench this season was the catalyst for the Clippers’ best regular season in the Kawhi Leonard–Paul George era.
The Clippers finished 51-31 during the regular season and lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.