Defying father time, Russell Westbrook is quickly proving his doubters wrong. As the Kings are floundering at the bottom in the West with 7-23, Russ notched up his season high score of 27 points. But that celebration turned rough as fans questioned the league’s intent.

The NBA released a statement a few hours ago: “SAC’s Russell Westbrook was assessed a postgame Flopping fine of $2,000 upon league office review for Dec. 23 vs. DET”. The league conducted a postgame review and deemed that Westbrook exaggerated contact on a play during the fourth quarter. He was playing tight full-court defense on Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and bumped into Brodie to create some space. Westbrook crashed and hit the ground.

The veteran point guard did not complain and seemed to have slipped. But the league and the officials thought otherwise. According to Spotrac, this latest penalty brings his total fines in the NBA to over $500,000, including another $2,000 fine earlier this season. Interestingly, this was just the third such foul the league has reprimanded.

Last month, Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado was the first one to be fined $2000. It occurred in New Orleans’ game against the Denver Nuggets during the third quarter. Alvarado was defending Denver’s Bruce Brown near halfcourt, and the Pelicans guard flailed dramatically and fell to the court. And the second one was again a Kings player, Malik Monk, against the Memphis Grizzlies. The guard made contact with Grizzlies center Zach Edey and hit the floor, and also took out his teammate Zach LaVine in the process.

Before these three instances, the last example was the Pelicans’ Jordan Poole, who was also docked $2,000 for flopping during a game in March 2025. Naturally, fans would see such a discrepancy. And they were quick to defend Russell Westbrook while also pointing out other players who they claim to have been favored with the whistle.

Fans support Russell Westbrook amid the league’s stance

He has nonchalantly recorded four triple-doubles this season. Plus, in his 18th season, he became the second player in the league to pair 10,000 assists with over 25,000 points. The only other player is former teammate LeBron James. Brodie’s average from last season has also increased, meaning the entire saga of teams not picking him is truly behind him. That’s one of his fans who was ready to pay the fine. “Hit me up i’ll pay it Goat”. While another netizen noticed a pattern.

“Only 3 flopping fines this year and 2 are Kings players.” The Kings are struggling this season, dropping six of their last seven games, but Westbrook remains one of their key contributors. Despite the fine, Westbrook is expected to play in Sacramento’s next game against the Dallas Mavericks. In order to defend Russell Westbrook, fans naturally brought up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is often at the center of referee-biased decisions.

“So we give Russ a flopping fine, but SGA can walk the streets free???” Not just SGA, but players like Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson were also mentioned by other netizens. Similarly, a fan even detailed the play and even questioned whether Brodie didn’t deserve this foul in the first place. “So the guy that basically never flops gets a post-game tech when clearly the ballhandler truly fully extended his arm into Russ’s upper chest area for no other reason.”

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Not just questioning the decision by logic, one fan used sarcasm. “$2000? How is he gonna eat tonight now?” Even though for a few months there were no suitors for Russell Westbrook, he has signed a vet minimum contract. For a player with his level of experience, that minimum contract is worth $3.6 million for the 2025-26 season. Over his first 17 seasons, he has earned a staggering $348.2 million in salary alone. His financial peak came from a designated veteran extension he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017, a five-year contract worth nearly $207 million.

Furthermore, his estimated wealth is about $300 million by 2025. This won’t be a financial hardship for Westbrook, in other words. It won’t undermine his belief in himself either. But it is good that the fans are supporting the veteran, who had a tough offseason.