LeBron James Reacts to Russell Westbrook's NBA Retirement in Comment on Star's IG Photo, 'HOF Next!'

LeBron James will clearly be a Hall of Famer after he retires, and he knows Russell Westbrook will already be inducted by the time he arrives.

After Westbrook announced his retirement Wednesday, the King took to social media and said "Helluva career Brodie!! HOF next!!" in the comment section on his former teammate's post:

James is right about the Hall of Fame being the next step for the point guard.

Westbrook's resume includes the 2016-17 MVP, two scoring titles, three assist titles, two All-Star Game MVPs, nine All-NBA selections and nine All-Star selections. He was also a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team alongside James.

And that is not the only time they were on the same team.

Westbrook and James were on the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021-22 and again during the 2022-23 campaign until the Purple and Gold traded the point guard to the Utah Jazz. Westbrook eventually cleared waivers after the Jazz waived him and joined the Los Angeles Clippers to remain in the city.

While James had nothing but love for Westbrook in his post, their one full season together did not go as planned. Los Angeles was an ugly 33-49 and missed the playoffs entirely with James limited to 56 games with injury.

Westbrook was solid for the Lakers that season and averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, but that was nowhere near the production of his peak with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He took home the league MVP in 2016-17 while averaging a triple-double of 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists a night, which was the first of three straight seasons he averaged a triple-double.

The future Hall of Famer is the NBA's all-time leaders in triple-doubles in large part because of his individual brilliance during his 11 seasons with the Thunder and will forever be associated with that franchise.

But he still played more than a full season with the King, and James congratulated him accordingly Wednesday.