Russell Westbrook: For former MVP, homecoming to Lakers is a ‘blessing’ on and off the court
Prior to joining the NBA in 2008, after he was drafted fourth overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook grew up near Los Angeles including his couple of years of collegiate basketball at UCLA.
In his official unveiling as a Laker, Westbrook discussed multiple key points including playing alongside LeBron James, his relationship with the late Kobe Bryant and coming back home.
Fit with LeBron James and Lakers roster
In their quest for the 18th title, one that would make them the winningest franchise in NBA history, the Lakers have built a roster around a new Big 3 of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook with this deal.
Since the trade was reported, a lot has been discussed about how the former MVP would fit on the team especially with regards to the sharing of playmaking and ball-handling duties with James.
“Bron is one of the best players to play this game… my job is to make his game easy for him.”@russwest44 on sharing the ball with @kingjames next season. pic.twitter.com/43tTkWlr9Z
– NBA TV (@NBATV) August 10, 2021
“It really doesn’t matter,” Westbrook shared. “There’s many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands and I’ve been able to do that for many years. I will figure it out.”
MORE: Is Westbrook the answer for the Lakers?
What about cohesion between the Big 3?
“AD and Bron are friends of mine first,” Westbrook added. “And me being a teammate, my job is to come in and uplift them. They’ll do the same with me.”
The former two-time All-Star MVP shares that there are bound to be ups-and-downs for the team but he insists that’s normal and is confident that the Lakers will figure it out over the course of the season.
Alongside their Big 3, the Lakers added a host of free-agents in Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington, Kent Bazemore, Kendrick Nunn, Carmelo Anthony, and Malik Monk while re-signing youngster Talen Horton-Tucker.
“When I got drafted to the NBA, that was me proving people wrong.”@russwest44 on whether or not he has anything left to prove as he joins the @Lakers. pic.twitter.com/CIT8395saU
– NBA TV (@NBATV) August 10, 2021
There’s a pretty good balance of shooting and defence in there to surround their Big 3 including Westbrook’s former teammate from the Oklahoma City Thunder – Anthony – but Westbrook didn’t dwell into any specifics about his thoughts on the roster.
“It’s amazing. The roster is great,” Westbrook replied. “As I come into the season, I’m always looking at the roster, I’m figuring out how I can make the other guys better and it’s as simple as that.”
Special homecoming for more than one reason
Surely, contending for a championship for your hometown franchise is on the mind of every NBA superstar and Westbrook is no different. However, the homecoming has more perks to it than just that.
“That is kind of the most important thing about being back home,” Westbrook points out when asked about the Challengers’ Boys and Girls club, a teen program that the NBA superstar credits to making him a better man.
“That is the most important thing about being back home… being able to inspire and impact people, especially our youth.” @russwest44 #Lakers @SpectrumSN pic.twitter.com/vg7fqZTwOw
– Nikki Kay (@NikkiKaySN1) August 11, 2021
“Being able to inspire and impact people, especially our youth in our community especially in our underserved communities in the city of LA where I grew up at and my focus would be down to the community like it’s always been.”
“I will continue to find ways to uplift our communities as much as I can.”
MORE: Carmelo Anthony has lofty aspirations with Lakers
The Lakers are Westbrook’s fourth team in as many years, having previously represented the Washington Wizards (2020-21), Houston Rockets (2019-20) and Oklahoma City Thunder (2008-19).
That’s a lot of travel across the country but coming back home, means no more of that.
“Being able to be with my kids all the time and being able to see my mom and dad and my wife all the time is, to me, the best thing you can ask for kind of being home. Not having for them to travel everywhere is a blessing for me.”
Another thing common about LA and Westbrook is the late Kobe Bryant.
The five-time Champion was the city’s adopted son and developed a bond with Westbrook towards the end of his playing career and the 32-year-old point guard wants to continue that legacy now that he’s in the purple and gold.
“Things that we talked about, me and him, the potential of me being able to be a Laker and understanding what that entails. It’s just crazy to think about.”
– Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 10, 2021
“That will be with me every time I put that Lakers jersey on.”
‘I’m all ears’: Russell Westbrook ready to learn from LeBron James at LA Lakers
- Nine-time All Star returns to native Los Angeles from Wizards
- ‘I’m coming to a championship caliber team,’ says 32-year-old
The biggest move of a busy NBA offseason was Russell Westbrook’s return to his native Los Angeles to join the LA Lakers franchise he grew up worshipping.
As soon as the trade was announced, questions sprung up about how the ball dominant guard would fit in alongside demanding floor general LeBron James in an offense built around maximizing the generational talent of forward Anthony Davis.
During his first press conference as a Laker on Tuesday, the nine-time All-Star from Long Beach who played college ball at UCLA said he was still eager to learn.
“I will always stay true to who I am,” Westbrook said. “But with that said, I’ll also make sure that I am able to listen and be all ears because I am coming to an unbelievable organization and a team with players that I’m able to learn from.”
Westbrook called James one of the best players to ever play the game and said he wanted to make life easy for the four-time champion, who led the Lakers to a championship inside the bubble two seasons ago.
“I’m coming to a championship caliber team and my job is make sure that I’m able to make his game easy for him, and I’ll find ways to do that throughout the game,” he said. As it pertains to ball handling and all that, it really doesn’t matter. There are many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands.”
Westbrook, 32, is a uniquely gifted player. In the 2017 season, he became just the second player in league history to average a triple-double during the regular season en route to picking up league MVP honors.
In all, he has averaged a triple-double in four seasons and is the all-time leader in the category. Last season with the Washington Wizards, he averaged 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 11.7 assists per game.
But the fiercely competitive Westbrook has also been criticised for his lack of postseason success, where his willingness to take on the other team by himself has sometimes put his team at a disadvantage.
Westbrook, who is entering his 14th season, said he is clear on his role and determined to help the franchise to hang its 18th championship banner at the end of next season.
“It’s my job to do what I’m supposed to do and make sure we have a chance to compete for a championship,” he said.
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“It’s surreal,” the Hawthorne, California, native said. “I think it still hasn’t hit me yet, being from L.A., growing up not too far from here and being able to watch the parades — try to go to them, try to miss school to try to go to them. Being a Laker fan and being from L.A., but now everything coming full circle for me.”
Westbrook said that as of a couple of weeks ago, a return to L.A. still seemed unlikely, with two years and $91 million still owed to the 32-year-old combo guard. But a conversation with LeBron James, whom he described as a friend before a teammate, started to change things.
“This stuff happened so quickly, all of this happened so fast, the last two weeks or so,” Westbrook said. “But we’ve had brief conversations and talked about obviously what we need to do.”
L.A. traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and its 2021 first-round pick to Washington for Westbrook on draft day last month, the first step in what turned out to be a near complete overhaul from last year’s roster that lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns.
“I think it was an opportunity to make an aggressive move that we felt bettered our probability to bring the 18th title to the Los Angeles Lakers,” said team vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka. “This was an opportunity to maximize the ability to do what we’re obsessed to do and that’s to bring an 18th title to this city.”
Two of the titles the Lakers earned came at Westbrook’s expense. Kobe Bryant and L.A.’s run to the 2010 ring started with a first-round win over Westbrook’s Thunder. James and the Lakers’ bubble championship in 2020 included beating Westbrook’s Rockets in the second round.
While Westbrook never played with Bryant outside of the Olympics and All-Star Games, he felt a kinship with the late, great Lakers guard.
“It hasn’t left my head. Things that we talked about — me and him — just the potential of me being able to be a Laker, understanding what that entails,” he said. “It’s just crazy to think about, and that will be with me every time I put that Laker jersey on.”
Pelinka, who was Bryant’s agent and close friend, recalled fondly that Westbrook was on the short list of players whom his former client believed to embody the “Mamba Mentality.”
“The initial thing that kind of brought us together was being able to compete and not being able to take nights off,” Westbrook said of Bryant.
And the Lakers’ addition of Westbrook should allow James — who is entering his 19th season and will turn 37 in December — to take some of the load off his shoulders.
“Bron is one of the best players to play this game, and his ability to be able to kind of do everything on the floor allows me to be able to just figure it out,” said Westbrook, who led the league in assists last year. “I’m coming to a championship-caliber team and my job is to make sure that I’m able to make his game easier for him, and I’ll find ways to do that throughout the game.”
Lakers coach Frank Vogel joined Westbrook and Pelinka at Tuesday’s event and declared that L.A. would become an “extremely dynamic, fast-breaking team” with Westbrook added to the fold with James and Anthony Davis. And Vogel downplayed any fit issues between the trio because they are “all make-the-right-play players.”
Westbrook, flanked at the event by his father, Russ, his mother, Shannon, and his brother, Ray, made one thing abundantly clear, however: His fit with the city of Los Angeles couldn’t be better.
“Just being able to be with my kids all the time, being able to see my mom and dad and my wife all the time is to me the best thing you can ask for,” he said. “Being back home.”
Russell Westbrook
.jpg) Westbrook with the Houston Rockets in 2019
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| No. 0 – Los Angeles Lakers | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | November 12, 1988 Long Beach, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 200 lb (91 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Leuzinger (Lawndale, California) |
| College | UCLA (2006–2008) |
| NBA draft | 2008 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall |
| Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics | |
| Playing career | 2008–present |
| Career history | |
| 2008–2019 | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| 2019–2020 | Houston Rockets |
| 2020–2021 | Washington Wizards |
| 2021–present | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Stats  |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
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Medals
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Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant (35) and Russell Westbrook (0) celebrate in the first half during Game 5 of the first round series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City
@russwest44
Russell Westbrook III (born November 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a nine-time NBA All-Star and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the 2016–17 season. He is also a nine-time All-NBA Team member, led the league in scoring in 2014–15 and 2016–17, and won back-to-back NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the year he won the league MVP award, Westbrook became one of two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season, along with Oscar Robertson in 1962. He also set a record for the most triple-doubles in a season, with 42. He went on to average a triple-double the following two seasons as well as lead the league in assists and become the first player to lead the league in points and assists in multiple seasons. In 2020–21, he averaged a triple-double for the fourth time in five seasons. On May 10, 2021, he passed Robertson for the most career triple-doubles in NBA history.
Westbrook played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and earned third-team all-conference honors in the Pac-10. He was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then relocated to Oklahoma City that same week. Westbrook has represented the United States national team twice, winning gold medals in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics. In 2019, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, playing one season for the organization before being traded again to the Washington Wizards in 2020. After a season in Washington, he was traded to the Lakers.
Awards and honors
NBA
- NBA Most Valuable Player (2017)
- 9× NBA All-Star (2011–2013, 2015–2020)
- 2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2015, 2016)
- 2× All-NBA First Team (2016, 2017)
- 5× All-NBA Second Team (2011–2013, 2015, 2018)
- 2× All-NBA Third Team (2019, 2020)
- 2× NBA scoring champion (2015, 2017)
- 3× NBA assists leader (2018, 2019, 2021)
- NBA All-Rookie First Team (2009)
College
- 2008 All-Pac-10 Third Team
- 2008 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year
- 2008 Pac-10 All-Tournament Team
- 2008 Pac-10 All-Defensive Team
- 2008 CollegeInsider.com All-Defensive Team
High school
- First-team All-CIF Division I
- Third-team All-State
- 2× Most Valuable Player of the Bay League
Endorsements
In October 2012, Westbrook signed with the Jordan Brand. His first commercial was with the Jordan Brand and Champs in which a high school athlete purchased Jordan gear from Champs and transformed into Westbrook and won a state championship. In 2017, Westbrook signed a 10-year extension with Jordan Brand that gave him the largest total endorsement deal of any athlete sponsored by the brand.
In November 2013, Westbrook signed with Kings and Jaxs Boxer Briefs. He stated: “I have always loved fashion so working with Kings & Jaxs was a natural fit as we both have a fearless and creative approach to style.”
In February 2015, Westbrook signed with PepsiCo to become the global face of Mountain Dew Kickstart.
Personal life
Westbrook and his wife have three children: one son and twin daughters.
Westbrook wears a “KB3” wristband and has “KB3” on his sneakers in honor of his childhood friend Khelcey Barrs III.
