This signing really could go either way. Russell Westbrook is staying in LA…but as a member of the Lakers crosstown rivals, the LA Clippers, as he was signed up off the buyout market by the franchise.
The Russell Westbrook saga truly will never end until his $47M dollar contract finally expires.
After getting traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Utah Jazz, and then getting officially bought out by Utah a few days later, Russell Westbrook has decided to stay in Los Angeles as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers as he’s just signed a 1-year deal to be the team’s new starting point guard.
Yeah, I know what you are thinking: “Are the Clippers insane? Haven’t they watch the Lakers and Westbrook struggles this season? He’s going to destroy the team!”
And I would usually be inclined to agree with you…but this case is different.
Everyone thinking this will go down horribly could wind up being right as Westbrook showed with his play this season that he no longer is the walking Trible-Double, regular season MVP player that he once was in Houston and Oklahoma City.
Yet, his fit with the Lakers was never going to work out in the first place when you look back with hindsight on the construction of the roster. Keeping in mind Westbrook’s loss of athleticism and speed to the rim, how was an aging, declining primarily inside shooter/rim scorer ever going to get the necessary space and time to take the ball to the basket on a team that had no shooters?
Sure, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Troy Brown Jr., and Dennis Schröder can make 3’s at times, but all of them are shooting below 38% from behind the arc at the moment. And both James and Schröder are shooting at less than 35% from the 3-point line, which really isn’t the greatest when the Top-50 3-point shooters in the league are all averaging 38% or greater on their shot attempts.
Obviously, teams were going to shut down the interior and the paint as that was the only consistent, logical place the Lakers could score from with Westbrook in the lineup, damaging the effectiveness of Westbrook’s game immeasurably.
Nonetheless, when you combine Westbrook’s poor shooting tallies (41.7% from FG, 29.6% from 3-point line) with his loss in athleticism, and the Lakers poor offensive makeup, him failing to deliver the championship-level expectations the Lakers fans always have makes sense. And it also makes sense why the Lakers finally agreed to mortgage their late 2020’s 1st round picks to get rid of Westbrook and bring in better shooters.
So, how does this recap relate to him signing with the Clippers? Well, the Clippers already have some great shooters on their roster, and they have a desperate need for playmaking, rim-driven scorers from the perimeter.
Ever since the Clippers rid themselves of PGs John Wall and Reggie Jackson on trade deadline day, the team has only had Bones Hyland, who is primarily a shoot-first guard, to fulfil the point guard role. You can see how this might be a problem come playoff time when the Clippers backcourt is unable to get the ball to their scorers, such as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, right?
Well, so did owner Steve Ballmer and the rest of the Clippers management as even though Westbrook can produce some baffling bad passes and turnovers, there’s a reason why he passed the legendary Gary Payton to become the NBA’s 10th greatest assist-maker (9,002) the same night LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s greatest scorer.
Westbrook can pass the ball like very few in this league…on most given nights.
Thus, with opposing defenses also being forced into respecting the Clippers midrange and 3-point scoring, Westbrook has all the tools and opportunities to succeed in helping the Clippers finally win their first ever NBA Championship….if his ego and personality doesn’t get in the way.
I said that Westbrook will be the Clippers starting PG come the first game he plays, but that could very well change if he plays as poorly as he did with the Lakers.
And, seeing how he and Lakers HC Darvin Ham were at each other’s throats in the final days of Westbrook’s Lakers tenure, there’s always the possibility he derails the locker room chemistry of the Clippers, forces the management staff to tear down the roster after five years of not winning, and dooms this franchise to another long rebuild.
Truly, anything could happen with Westbrook heading to the Clippers, which makes this move so exciting to follow.
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