Russell Westbrook’s Beautiful Thank You Letter to Oklahoma City

This made me cry, but they were tears of happiness. It was refreshing to see this week of turmoil in Oklahoma City reflected on in this manner by one Russell Westbrook.

As I heard it…it wasn’t basketball I was thinking about. What I was thinking about was Russell the person, the son, the brother, the husband, and the father. I never once really even thought that much about the basketball of the past eleven seasons in Oklahoma City.

This is the part of Russell Westbrook it’s impossible not to love. His story and his family.

Where it goes now is in Houston, but Russell Westbrook will at some point have a street in downtown Oklahoma City named for him… and rightfully so.

At the lowest point in Oklahoma City after the departure of Durant, the death of Aubrey McClendon, the plethora of earthquakes, and the cratering of oil prices…Russell Westbrook didn’t just have a steadying impact on the Thunder, he had a steadying influence on a state and how it felt about itself.

Russell gave Oklahomans something to cling onto and to help them feel good about themselves.

No, there won’t be a championship parade in Bricktown as the Russell Westbrook era has now ended in Oklahoma City. But there is a city which is still growing, still doing incredible things with MAPS, and still changing the manner in which it is perceived by the rest of the country.

Russell Westbrook should be extremely proud of what he did with his time in Oklahoma City. He wasn’t just the face of a franchise, but the face of a city.

This last season was bumpy to say the least. But bumps are just a part of the process.

Russell leaves for Houston, but unlike with Kevin Durant he departs as the favorite player in Oklahoma City even if it is with him playing in south Texas.

Russell Westbrook wasn’t born in Oklahoma, but in Los Angeles. He departs for Houston as our favorite son.