Former MVP guard Russell Westbrook has reportedly agreed to a buyout with the Utah Jazz, and will sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. Westbrook was traded to Utah on February 8, in exchange for the Los Angeles Lakers being given D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt. However, Westbrook never suited up for a game for the Jazz, looming a potential buyout that finally occurred.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, "Westbrook had discussed deals with the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat in recent days, but the chance to compete for a championship and remain in Los Angeles played a significant part in his decision to choose the Clippers." In their Kawhi Leonard-Paul George frontcourt era, the Clippers had never really had a star guard to allow their team to produce at the highest level. Attempting to revive former All-Star guard John Wall's career earlier this year, before they traded him away to the Houston Rockets, the Clippers already began their push for a veteran point guard to lead the team.
Another intriguing factor of this signing is that Westbrook and All-Star forward Paul George were previously teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Bleacher Report notes that "The Clippers also have plenty of shooting—certainly more than the Los Angeles Lakers did during Westbrook's ill-fated tenure with the team—limiting his own floor-spacing concerns (29.6 percent from three this season)." With this move, Westbrook doesn't have to rely on being reliable from all sides of the ball, but the Clippers want him to use his fabled athleticism and toughness to their advantage.
The Clippers currently sit at 33-28, leaving them in fourth place in the Western Conference. Westbrook was doing well in a sixth-man role for the Lakers, averaging 15.9 PPG, 7.5 APG, 6.2 RPG, as well as 1 SPG, in 52 games played. This will be Westbrook's fifth team in five years, a strange look for the 2017 MVP's resume, but it is believed he will be a huge producer for this Clippers team.
Another good thing for Westbrook is the fact that he can finally get himself out of the spotlight of being LeBron James' teammate on the Lakers. Clippers forward Marcus Morris stated, "Playing with the Lakers, it’s like media, media, media. And from the outside looking in, like every time something bad went wrong – Russell Westbrook. Nobody else was really getting no blame. And it just kept spiraling down.
“But we accept him [with] open arms, man. Let him be himself. We need the personality, we need the veteran. He’s been in the playoffs a lot of times, been to the championship. I want him to come. I think that you can’t kill a wounded dog. You give him an opportunity to come back, it could be dangerous.”
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