The whole league is silent: Where is Westbrook s next stop?

The warm scene of returning to the roots of fallen leaves is staged in the NBA this summer - Lillard returns to Portland with 42 million in three years, and Paul returns to the Los Angeles Clippers with 3.6 million in one year. When the camera focuses on the warm moments of veterans embracing the parent team, a lonely figure who is out of place: Russell Westbrook stands in the corner of the free market.

Open Westbrook's report card last season, it's hard not to speak up for him - the veteran's basic salary tag is hidden with an output of tens of millions of yuan: averaging 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game in the regular season, and 11.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the playoffs. Beside Jokic, he can not only turn into a bench bandit, but also replace the starting player to charge in the battle, and the cost-effectiveness is called the "baby price ceiling". Westbrook condenses the last light of traditional basketball aesthetics. He was once a historical triple-double king and averaging 30+ triple-double MVP in a single season. He was selected as the All-Star 12 times, holding the double scepter of the scoring king and assist king. His name is engraved in the palace of 75 superstars. When the Oscar boy swept the league with violent aesthetics, no one could have imagined that the ending was so desolate.

The most poetic thing is probably Thunder's return script - after all, the theme of this summer is "Heroes Return Home". But the reality is cold: The Thunder is full of talents in the backcourt, and laying off people for Westbrook will trigger a luxury tax. Even if it comes true, he will have to accept a small role that averages 15 minutes per game. Westbrook's dilemma is a microcosm of the cruel metabolism of the NBA. From the Rockets to the Wizards, from the Lakers to the Clippers, he has been in the five teams for six years, and his annual salary has dropped from 47 million to 3.3 million. He set a record for the largest salary cut in NBA history - a single season shrink of $43 million. When Harden, who was in the same class, signed a maximum salary and Durant firmly took the core, the most explosive existence among the three young masters of the Thunder was sliding towards the end of his career.

Westbrook's career is like a masterpiece of violent aesthetics. When he grabbed the rebound and broke into the penalty area in one-stop and ignited the entire game with a tomahawk dunk, people witnessed the final glory of the classical point guard. His paranoid achieves greatness, but also accelerates his fall - when he can no longer crush the rules with his body, the rules swallow him up. Basketball always needs legends, but legends must learn to reconcile with the times. This summer, what we are waiting for may not be Westbrook's next stop, but a rebirth story of a veteran reconciliation with the world.