After the Kings lost their NBA-worst 50th game Thursday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento guard Russell Westbrook held an animated press conference in which he went back and forth with multiple beat reporters.
The nine-time NBA All-Star finished with 19 points and 10 assists in the Kings’ 133-123 loss.
The presser began with Westbrook being asked what the Kings, who are out of playoff contention, can accomplish in their final 19 games of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Westbrook: “You know, go out, compete. This is the game. You’re a professional. You go out and play, and that’s all you can do. What do y’all think, though? Because y’all got a lot of answers, and y’all always be talking.”
“I got no answers for you,” a reporter responded.
Westbrook: “Oh, that’s very interesting. Nobody? Y’all don’t got no — you guys have a lot of opinions about how we do what we’re doing.”
Westbrook then pointed at one reporter in particular, who turned out to be Matt George of Sactown Sports 1140.
Westbrook: “What you got? You make a lot of statements and broad statements that you have no context, so where do you get your context from? Are you in practice? Are you at our film session?
George answered “No” to the last two questions.
Westbrook: “Are you anywhere around the building?”
George: “Yes.”
Westbrook: “No, I haven’t seen you at practice. So the false context of — and actually, do you know me?”
George: “I know you.”
Westbrook: “No, you don’t know me. You don’t know me. You don’t know me, but you make a lot of comments as though you do know me.”
George: “I’m talking about your basketball team.”
Westbrook: “No, no, no, you don’t. My intent — I see it, I see it. But I’m asking you now, but you don’t know me, right? So you don’t, you don’t know anything about me.”
George: “Not you personally.”
Westbrook: “Thank you. That’s good. Anybody else? You guys have any comments about how we play, what we’re doing? You guys are quiet today, but you guys have a lot of comments when the game’s going on and after the game, what we’re doing, what we should be doing, how we should be doing it. I’m confused.”
Another reporter, Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee, volunteered to ask a question.
Westbrook: “Let me hear. You must have in our film session too.”
Biderman: “I’m not in your film session, but you guys have the worst record in the NBA. You guys have, like, been bottom 3 in offense and defense throughout the year.”
Westbrook: “Perfect.”
Biderman: “I think that’s fair to –.”
Westbrook: “What’s fair?”
Biderman: “It’s fair to point that out.”
Westbrook: “Yeah, that’s been pointed out, but that’s not the only thing that’s been talked about. What else does it point out?”
Biderman: “Well, I can only speak for myself, but –.”
Westbrook: “But that’s not the only thing you’ve said. I’ve seen things you say. It’s not just about our offense and our defense and what our record is. We’ve been the worst record for a long time now.”
Biderman: “What have I said?”
Westbrook: “I don’t wanna go down a route, but I mean we can — actually, you have a lot of things to say, so this is your time. This is the floor to say it. This is the time.”
Biderman: “I just think in sports when teams don’t have success, they’re –.”
Westbrook: “You think that we should have success, right? Do you feel that way?”
Biderman: “I think that you guys are trying to have success, yeah.”
Westbrook: “OK, cool. That’s good. What about you? What do you think?”
Westbrook pointed to a third reporter, James Ham of ESPN 1320 Sacramento.
Ham: “I think it’s been a rough year for everybody. And, I mean, as somebody who’s covered the league for a long time and this team for a long time, this is by far the worst season. And I don’t blame you for that.”
Westbrook: “Listen, I don’t think nobody is blaming me. I’m just saying, what I don’t like is that I’ve been in the league a long time, and I’ve been around a lot of different organizations, media, beat writers. And we have a lot of young guys on this team, a lot of guys that don’t know what’s happening or what’s around, whether it’s from the coaching, from the players.
“You guys’ job is to talk about the game, what’s happening in the game — not [to] stir up a bunch of — I don’t want to cuss here because I don’t want to get fined — but stir up a bunch of stuff that is not accurate. And that’s my problem. Like, being in the league a while, I’ve been able to experience a lot of these times where people outside of our building, outside of the film session, outside of what we do daily, how much work we put in.
“That is not an easy job to do. It’s not an easy job to do, and I think the respect level is that, we respect y’all, or we respect what y’all do. Y’all come in, y’all make your comments, and nobody say nothing. But I don’t have to sit back and not say nothing. The media is, you know, that’s been my thing and been down the road. But, as a leader of this team, it’s my job to speak up for the guys in the locker room. We talk about [it]. They see it. I hear it. Because of the comments you guys make, you got guys thinking about a whole bunch of random things that have nothing to do with the game. And you guys are making false comments about our team and what we’re doing here, and I don’t appreciate that.
“So my ask is that you respect what we do, and we’ll respect what you do.”
Another reporter, Tony Harvey, then asked Westbrook if media coverage this season has been different than in other years for the 18-year NBA veteran.
Westbrook: “No, not for me. No, I’ve seen much worse, but, it’s not about me, it’s about our team. So I’m talking about our team and our group of guys, the organization. … I came here a little late, but I feel like you guys expect us that we’re gonna win the championship. The conversation and how we’re talking is like, yeah, you guys, [if] we don’t win the championship, it’s like it’s a bust or something. And that’s not the case. This is our job.
“Like y’all have your job, y’all go to work. It would be great if we can critique y’all, but we don’t. We have our job. We come to do our job the best way we know how to. Wins, losses is all a part of the game, and after that, we go home, y’all go home and see our families. We go home and see our families, and that’s that.
“But don’t make false context, comments about people as individuals, people who they are, what they do, what they’re thinking, why they’re doing this, how come they’re doing that. If you don’t know, don’t say nothing you don’t know nothing about, and that’s particularly for you.”
Westbrook again pointed at George as he finished that last statement. The Kings guard answered one more question before the press conference ended.
Sacramento is back in action on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls at Golden 1 Center.