It never seemed like Russell Westbrook‘s ability to take the floor for Game 5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s series against the Utah Jazz was in serious doubt, but on Tuesday evening, the NBA confirmed that he won’t miss any time. Westbrook was involved in an altercation during Monday night’s Game 4, one which saw him jaw with Rudy Gobert.
The issue was that no one was sure if Westbrook was in the game or not at the time, as he was at the scorers table when Gobert got into it with Raymond Felton. The NBA has made coming onto the floor in these situations a suspend-able offense, as fans of the 2007 Phoenix Suns will remind you.
Westbrook’s response was that the horn sounded and he was able to check in, upon which the NBA agreed. He will, however, get punished by the league in the form of a hefty fine and a technical foul.
Russell Westbrook has been fined $10,000 and assessed a technical foul for an altercation with Rudy Gobert in Game 4. He will not face any further discipline.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 24, 2018
Losing Westbrook while down 3-1 would have been disastrous, even if he has come under fire for his play in the series. The Thunder need a whole lot to go their way over the next few games if they have any chance of coming back against a Jazz squad that looks fantastic, and it’s hard to imagine them doing that unless Westbrook is at his absolute best.
