In August 2025, Kevin Durant deflected a question on X about whether his No. 35 should ever be raised in Oklahoma City. With Russell Westbrook now headed for the rafters, the question is not going away.
The Thunder announced on November 2 that Westbrook’s No. 0 will be retired on Sunday, February 7, 2027, before a home game against the New York Knicks that will air on NBC’s Sunday Night Basketball. It will be only the second number the franchise has sent to the rafters, after Nick Collison’s No. 4 in 2019.
“Many players make an impact but only great players leave a legacy,” Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a statement. “Russell Westbrook’s legacy was built both on the court and in the community.”
Westbrook played 11 seasons in Oklahoma City, where he was league MVP in 2016-17, a year in which he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists and recorded 42 triple-doubles. He finished his career with 209 triple-doubles, the most in NBA history.
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A legacy complicated by one 2016 phone call
Durant left Oklahoma City for Golden State in the summer of 2016, days after the Thunder had squandered a 3-1 Western Conference finals lead against those same Warriors. NBC Sports characterized the move as leaving to form a super team, set against Westbrook’s decision to stay.
That contrast is why the ceremony has dragged Durant’s own number back into the conversation.
Durant himself has largely refused to engage. Asked on X in August 2025 whether his jersey belonged in the rafters, he replied to Yahoo Sports’s reporting of the exchange: “U don’t want me to answer this but what I will say, muse pages and Stan accounts don’t make none of these decisions…”
The insiders are split on timing, not merit
The Athletic’s Jason Jones has written that Durant’s number “definitely will be retired” by both the Thunder and the Golden State Warriors, according to Sports Illustrated.
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Longtime Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel took the opposite view on timing. He told SiriusXM NBA Radio that honoring Durant is inevitable but not imminent, according to Basketball News.
“I do think it is coming,” Tramel said, adding that in his view “there’ll have to be an ownership change” first and that “there’s too much bitterness … from both sides” for it to happen now.
Durant’s on-court case is not seriously contested in Oklahoma. He won a regular-season MVP with the franchise and took the team to the 2012 NBA Finals.
The decision on his number ultimately rests with chairman Clayton Bennett and the ownership group. The Westbrook ceremony is on Sunday, February 7, 2027, in Oklahoma City.
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