Earlier today, it was announced that the Los Angeles Lakers have reached a deal with the Washington Wizards to acquire point guard Russell Westbrook...who's a 9-time NBA All-Star, a 2-time NBA scoring champion, a 1-time Olympic gold medalist and the NBA's 2017 Most Valuable Player.
In exchange for Westbrook, the Lakers will send Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the No. 22 pick in today's NBA Draft to Washington. The Wizards will also send their 2024 and 2028 second-round picks to Los Angeles to complete the deal.
While he played with fellow NBA All-Stars such as James Harden and Kevin Durant during his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and with Harden again on the Houston Rockets, Westbrook never won a championship.
The fact that Westbrook is returning to Los Angeles (he was born in Long Beach and advanced to the Final Four each year he played on the UCLA Bruins) shows that he is serious about completing his prolific career with an NBA title. The Milwaukee Bucks may be the newest champions, but the road to the Larry O'Brien Trophy still runs through the City of Angels once LeBron James and Anthony Davis are fully healthy again.
Here's hoping that the LeBron, AD and Westbrook trio will be reminiscent of LeBron's tenure with the Miami Heat...when he won two straight titles with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2012 and 2013, respectively. It's time for Westbrook to stop thinking about padding his individual stats (leave that to James Harden even though he's now on the loaded Brooklyn Nets) and help the Lake Show surpass the Boston Celtics with an 18th franchise championship. Happy Thursday!
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