Russell Westbrook Is Playing the Long Game
Basketball star Russell Westbrook sits down with Only Natural Diamonds to discuss his record-breaking NBA career, iconic style, milestone jewelry purchases, and devotion to family.
JEWELRY NORMAN SILVERMAN • PANTS BOTTEGA VENETA
Not every first-round NBA draft pick lives up to the league’s staggering expectations—or those of diehard fans yearning to see their team excel. Some are plagued by injury; others simply never adjust the pace of professional basketball. But Russell Westbrook can’t relate to either scenario.
Drafted in 2008 to the Seattle Supersonics—which soon relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder—Westbrook was an All-Rookie First Team selection and led the Thunder to the NBA Finals alongside Kevin Durant and James Harden in 2012.
The LA-born point guard and former UCLA standout recorded two seasons as the league’s leading scorer, three as the assist leader, and nine as an All-Star. He won MVP in 2017, holds the record for career triple-doubles, and is a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary team—a roster of the 75 best players in league history. And that just brings us to 2021.
Meet the Expert
Leah Faye Cooper is a New York City-based writer and editor covering the intersection of fashion and culture. A former contributing editor at Vanity Fair, her work has also appeared in Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Wall Street Journal. Before pursuing a career in fashion journalism, Leah spent two fantastic years teaching high school English in Houston through Teach For America. She loves handbags, French fries, and her middle name—in equal measure.
Russell Westbrook Never Expected to Play This Long
The average NBA career lasts roughly five seasons; Westbrook just wrapped season eighteen. When late NBA commissioner David Stern called his name as pick number four all those years ago, did Westbrook think he’d still be playing basketball today?
“I did not,” he matter-of-factly tells Only Natural Diamonds. Speaking over Zoom from Sacramento, where he’s nearing the end of his first season with the Kings, Westbrook rattles off the many sources of his longevity.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things. I think being given the opportunity and loving to play, the competition, the platform it gives me, the people I’m able to inspire while just being on the floor, my kids are old enough now to see me play, so that’s also very inspiring. But never did I think I’d be playing this long. I don’t take it for granted. God blessed me to be able to wake up and play—I’m going to play as long as I can.”
Never did I think I’d be playing this long. I don’t take it for granted.
Westbrook added to his accolades during the 2025–2026 season, logging the most career rebounds by an NBA guard in history and joining LeBron James as one of two players with 25,000 career points and 10,000 career assists.
How Russell Westbrook Turned the NBA Tunnel Into a Runway
Westbrook’s dominance on the court is matched with an equally legendary sartorial prowess. He is largely responsible for popularizing one of today’s most highly anticipated and fervently documented runways: the NBA tunnel walk, i.e., the players’ walk from their arena arrival to the locker room. Kilts with cardigans, leather pants with graphic tees, tie-dye tees, and ripped jeans, and a sweatshirt so distressed it revealed both of his pecs, are just a few of the looks cementing Westbrook’s best-dressed status. “Obviously, I take it seriously,” he says of his passion for style.
Though that interest extends to jewelry to some degree, his outfits feel complete without tennis necklaces, diamond studs, and glimmering Cuban links. “I grew up in the hood—jewelry wasn’t something I was running to get,” Westbrook says, adding that flashiness was an invitation to get robbed. Instead of spending his early NBA checks on precious gems, “I didn’t get any jewelry until probably my second or third year in the league,” he says. “I got a watch and one pendant—my logo—that was it.”
The Diamond Engagement Ring Russell Westbrook Designed for His Wife
His first major diamond purchase was the custom, elongated cushion-cut ring he proposed to his wife with in 2014. A process that some find daunting—picking or designing a ring for their future spouse—didn’t faze Westbrook because “I have good taste [and] I knew what she wanted,” he says.
A milestone recently prompted the two to go back to the drawing board. “We just celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary, so things have changed with the ring situation,” he says. The watch situation changed, too, with Westbrook accumulating an impressive collection of Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, and Rolex timepieces. As for where he stands on the diamonds-or-no-diamonds-on-a-watch debate, if they’re factory-set, yes. “If [they’re] not from the brand, no; I’m good.”
How Russell Westbrook Built Businesses Beyond the NBA
In 2016, Russell Westbrook materialized his penchant for fashion by launching apparel brand Honor the Gift. Inspired by his California upbringing and innate creativity, the range includes graphic tees, crochet separates, boxy button-downs, and a variety of knits.
It’s one of several businesses under the NBA star and entrepreneur’s holding firm and investment company, Russell Westbrook Enterprises. Another one is RW Digital, a programmatic digital marketing company.
“I love—I call it in my office—[a] non-sexy business,” Westbrook says, explaining that he’s just as drawn to under-the-radar ventures less likely to be impacted by global affairs and shifts in the economy as he is to more publicly revered ones. Brands that champion diversity and community impact, he adds, are also essential to his portfolio.
Of course, Westbrook doesn’t need another job—let alone multiple other jobs. But he’s keenly aware of the platform and opportunities his NBA career affords him and wants to do more with that than make explosive plays. “Not just for me, but for my kids and the people around me,” he says of his commitment to establishing, modeling, and maintaining a strong business acumen. “I feel like it’s my duty.”
The One Thing Russell Westbrook Puts Ahead of Basketball
Russell Westbrook is most enthusiastic when he talks about his family, and he talks about them a lot. He and his wife, Nina, share an eight-year-old son, Noah, and seven-year-old twin daughters Jordan and Skye. When I mention how busy he must be with basketball, family, and business, he quickly points out the obligations should be listed in a different order: “Family first.”
Over the season, Westbrook was in Sacramento while Nina and the kids were at the family home in LA. He was up at 6 a.m. to speak to them before school, on a call or FaceTime with the family in the afternoon after his workouts, and again before bedtime. The only piece of jewelry he’s adamant about wearing every day is a simple necklace with his wife and kids’ first initials dangling from it. “N-N-J-S,” he says, “Nina and Noah, Jordan and Skye.” Westbrook has the bespoke necklace in three metals—silver, rose gold, and yellow gold. So, no matter what he’s wearing, he’ll have a necklace to match, I ask?
“Exactly.”
Photographer/Director: Micaiah Carter
Stylist: Courtney Mays
Creative Director: Lizzy Oppenheimer
Entertainment Director At Large: Glynis Costin
Creative Production: Petty Cash Production
Lighting Director: Sebastian Johnson
Digital Tech: Blake Mohr
Production Designer: James Lear
