After a monumental trade that kicked off NBA free agency on draft night, Russell Westbrook is finally home. The trade, in which the Los Angeles Lakers sent players Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and draft picks to the Washington Wizards, in exchange for the 32-year-old, 2016-17 NBA MVP, signaled a shift in focus for the LeBron James-led team – they're going all in.
A championship ring has eluded Westbrook for most of his career, despite putting up remarkable stats and winning two scoring titles across the three teams he's played for, which includes the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets in addition to Washington. Joining the Lakers means Westbrook has a legitimate chance to pursue a championship title. Add to that idea, the fact that general manager Rob Pelinka rounded out the Lakers' free agency with veteran signings including former all-star Carmelo Anthony and the return of athletic center Dwight Howard, and the experienced Los Angeles Lakers are looking to go for it all, with Westbrook spearheading the charge alongside Bron and AD.
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On Tuesday, the Lakers held their introductory press conference for the nine-time all-star, and he remarked the surreal feeling of being able to finally say that he's playing for his hometown team.
"I think it still kind of hasn’t hit me yet," Westbrook said. "Being from L.A., growing up not too far from here. Being able to watch the parades. Missed school to try to go to them. Being a Lakers fan, everything’s coming full circle for me, it’s a blessing. It’s a lot of things I can’t put into actual words, just because some of these dreams don’t come true for people like myself. I’m truly blessed and thankful for this opportunity and I can’t wait to get started."
General manager Rob Pelinka had high praise for Westbrook and outlined why the team pursued him hard during this free agency period, "He's an incredible leader, and when you talk to teammates from the other storied franchises he's played for, to a man, the input you get is that he's one of the great teammates they've played with, and that speaks to his character, his leadership. And those are qualities that are incredibly important to our team."
Speaking about teaming up with LeBron and AD, Westbrook said, "Each year I try to find ways to be able to uplift and make my teammates better around me. And AD and Bron are friends of mine first. And me being their teammate, my job is to come in and uplift them. And they’ll do the same with me, vice versa. And as the season prolongs, we will figure it out. There will be ups, there will be downs. That’s normal, that’s OK. We gonna figure out how to play the best way we want to play in order to win a championship."
The Lakers' social media recently shared a video recalling moments in which the trio have interacted in the past, highlighting their tenured friendship. It is fronted by an old photo of the trio together following winning the gold at the 2012 Olympics. Check out the video below.
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