Russell Westbrook didn’t have to move cities despite being traded away from the Los Angeles Lakers. After a year and a half of the Russ-Lakers experiment alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it was clear that the supposed ‘Big 3’ wasn’t going to mesh with one another.
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Rob Pelinka made perhaps the best trade deadline move of his career by turning Russ into pieces that actually fit around Bron and AD such as D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt. This however, resulted in the Jordan athlete making his way to the tanking Utah Jazz.
As expected, the Jazz bought out Russ as neither needs the other, leading to him testing out the open market. Talks between his camp with the Bulls, Heat, and Clippers were mostly what took place with the latter winning out and snagging him away from potential buyers.
Russell Westbrook joining the Clippers has led to a decrease in title equity
Russell Westbrook was heavily recruited by the players on the Los Angeles Clippers, with Paul George leading the charge along with Marcus Morris. George had the best season of his career when he played with Russ on the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was a top 3 candidate for both MVP and DPOY in 2018-19.
Unfortunately, one of the greatest shots in Playoff history from Damian Lillard ended what could’ve been a fairly competitive OKC squad. Now, with Westbrook back with PG-13, it’ll be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out with guys like Bones Hyland, Terrance Mann, and Eric Gordon in the mix.
While Clippers fans may be hopeful, betting odds for their championship hopes aren’t. Since the Russ signing, the Clips have actually gone from +1100 to win it all to +1200. This means, if someone were to bet $100 on the Clips to win without him, they’d get $1100. Now with Westbrook, they’d get $1200 with the same amount of money being bet.
Russell Westbrook on the Clippers makes for an interesting fit
Terrance Mann, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George make for quite the explosive trio on offense. Decreasing Mann’s minutes to accommodate for Westbrook would seem like a step back.
Combine Russ’s turnovers with his inefficiency from the floor and Ty Lue has a lot on his hands when it comes to integrating him into the offense. If Westbrook can be a downhill threat, orchestrate the offense in the halfcourt, and defend fairly well on the perimeter, the Clippers may just be a legitimate threat out West.
