Nuggets’ Russell Westbrook has a full-circle moment with Jalen Green in loss to Rockets

On Wednesday night, Russell Westbrook took on a heavier workload than usual for the Denver Nuggets amid Nikola Jokic’s injury. Of course, Jokic is as big an absence as anyone, and with Jalen Green leading the charge for the Houston Rockets with another hyper-efficient scoring night (34 points on 10-16 shooting from the field), the Nuggets fell flat en route to a 128-108 defeat.

Midway through the game, Green felt himself, and perhaps rightly so given how fiery he’s been lately. The Rockets shift ended talking some smack toward Westbrook’s direction, which surprised the Nuggets guard a bit since it wasn’t that long ago that Green was one of the best players for the 2017 NBA MVP’s “Why Not” AAU team.

“Damn kid! He used to play on my AAU team and talk to me like I was a little kid,” Westbrook said while tweeting to the Rockets bench about Green, via @TheWestbrookEra on X, formerly Twitter.

Time goes by so fast; it was only back in 2019 when Green was a part of Westbrook’s AAU team, but now the Rockets guard is a grown man on an upward trajectory in his career. Meanwhile, the Nuggets guard has gone through his fair share of career struggles since then, though he’s found new life in the Mile High City, forming an incredible partnership with reigning MVP Jokic.

The fun thing about watching the Nuggets guard play, even at his advanced age, is that he has no friends on the court other than his teammates as long as there’s a single second left on the clock. So while Westbrook acts as an uncle of sorts to Green, he doesn’t back down from any challenge, hence this full-circle moment.

Jalen Green and Russell Westbrook duel in lopsided Rockets win over Nuggets

Jalen Green has been a new man ever since the calendar flipped to 2025. After an incredible 42-point outing against the Memphis Grizzlies in which he shot 13-18 from the field, the Rockets guard can’t miss again Wednesday night, proving . to be the catalyst in another win for Houston.

Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook may have done his best, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Nuggets from getting blown out. Westbrook put up 17 points and four assists on the night, far from his best in terms of his recent performances, but it was always going to be tough for them to win the second night of a back-to-back while without their best player.