Kevin Durant Talks Russell Westbrook's 'Shocking' NBA Retirement, 'I Thought He Could Still Play'

Kevin Durant will forever be connected to Russell Westbrook after they starred together for the Oklahoma City Thunder early in their legendary careers, and he called it "shocking" that his former teammate retired this offseason.

"It just hit me, man, that's one of the first dudes you come in with and you were around every day to finally step out," Durant said on an episode of Boardroom Talks (10:15 mark). "A lot of guys that have been younger than me or drafted after me have retired, but I wasn't as close to them as I was to Russell. And it's somebody I feel like could still play. It surprised me. It's one of those things that you can appreciate all the time spent, and somebody like Russell is doing a lot off the court too. I want to see what he does next.

"... It was shocking. Like I said, I thought he could still play. I feel like he would have been a good veteran presence in the locker room."

Had Westbrook wanted to remain in the NBA, he could have for the 2026-27 campaign.

After all, he reportedly had offers from the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings but decided he instead wanted to retire.

Durant and Westbrook essentially ushered the Oklahoma City Thunder into basketball relevance as a franchise together. The former played his rookie season with the Seattle SuperSonics and then went to OKC with the franchise for his second season.

That second season just so happened to be Westbrook's rookie year.

It didn't take long for them to find success, as the Thunder reached the Western Conference Finals four times and the NBA Finals once during their eight seasons as teammates. While they never quite got over the hump to win a title, they were consistently among the league's best.

Durant eventually left for the Golden State Warriors and won both of his championships alongside Stephen Curry. And in the aftermath of that move, his relationship with Westbrook was publicly scrutinized and drew plenty of attention.

But the future Hall of Famer had nothing but respect and admiration for Westbrook in his latest comments as he reflected on the guard's retirement and their time together.