Russell Westbrook Will Rest vs. Timberwolves, Out for 1st Game This Season

Russell Westbrook is finally taking a breather.    

Head coach Billy Donovan told reporters at shootaround Tuesday the Oklahoma City Thunder guard will sit out the night's road finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center:

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He's been unbelievable the way he's played, the way he's led. Sitting down and talking to him, talking to the medical staff, this was an opportunity [to rest him], but at the end of the day it's his decision of how he feels and trying to capitalize on maybe taking a day off, a game off, and I get that. Ultimately, he's going to be the one who's going to make that decision. ... At the end of the day, he was the one who also really felt that, OK, this would be a good day. I think myself and our medical staff really agreed with him that this would be a good opportunity to get some rest.

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Westbrook has played each of the Thunder's first 80 games of the 2016-17 campaign. It's unclear if he will play in Wednesday's regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder will also be without forwards Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and Andre Roberson. They are locked into the Western Conference's No. 6 seed for the playoffs, so the results of their final two games do not matter for seeding purposes. Oklahoma City will play the Houston Rockets in the first round of the postseason.

Westbrook is the second NBA player in history to average a triple-double over an entire season (Oscar Robertson did so 1961-62). The 28-year-old set a single-season record with his 42nd triple-double in Sunday's 106-105 win over the Nuggets. During that contest, he recorded his third 50-point triple-double—another NBA record.

While it's understandable the Thunder would want Westbrook to rest, this decision seems to run contrary to his comments on the matter last month.

"I like to play basketball. So, I like to go out there and compete and have fun,” Westbrook told reporters March 22. "I think for me, I look at it differently, just for me, being hurt and unable to play games [in 2013-14], I embrace every opportunity I have to play basketball." 

With Westbrook clinching the triple-double record on the road, odds are we will see him in some capacity during Wednesday night's home game so OKC fans can honor him.        

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