Russell Westbrook became the latest star to join the Los Angeles Lakers after arriving via trade from the Washington Wizards.
The Lakers desperately needed to move the needle in the right direction this upcoming season following an unfruitful campaign in 2020-21.
With Westbrook entering the fold as the starting point guard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis will have a dynamic rim-pressuring guard by their side, even though the UCLA product doesn’t shoot efficiently the farther away he is from the rim.
Despite those shooting woes, Westbrook averaged a triple-double last season of 22.2 points, 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds, marking the fourth triple-double average season he’s had in the last five years.
Westbrook can still be a key contributor to a team, and though his numbers next season might not shine with James and Davis as the top two options, he’ll still make an impact.
As for where he stands in the crowd of talented NBA players today, Seth Partnow of The Athletic ranks Westbrook in the “3C” player tier:
I have no idea what to do with Russell Westbrook. For better or worse, he isn’t really operating within the same statistical realities as any other player in the league, with averaging a triple-double only a part of the oddness. His ball dominance and box-score explosiveness have caused him to have as large a gravitationally warping effect on teammates’ style of play and production as anyone else in the NBA, up to and possibly including new teammate LeBron James.
Partnow discussed some of Westbrook’s unappealing shooting numbers that make him a cloudy fit for specific rosters, which is why he’s been rerouted to new teams in each of the last three seasons:
Over the last two seasons, building around another star with Westbrook has been equally confusing. In 2019-20, the Rockets didn’t work until they traded Clint Capela and quadrupled down on extreme small ball. Last season in Washington was a similar roller coaster, with a poor start followed by an epic late-season run but concluding with a meek postseason exit.
All of which is to say, I’m going to shrug my shoulders and drop Westbook here, for lack of any better idea of how and how much his talents and style move a team toward a title.
Westbrook understands he’ll have to share the ball with James to make the pairing work. Both are ball-dominant players, and though James can spot up for 3-pointers, Westbrook isn’t in the same boat.
But if Westbrook can slice defenses as a slasher going towards the rim to open up the floor, instead of roaming the perimeter when another player is initiating, he can wreak havoc against defenses.
The fit on paper isn’t so appealing, but it’ll be interesting to see how Frank Vogel gets this new trio going.
James came in the “1A” tier while Davis came in at “2A”. Last season, Partnow slotted Westbrook in tier “3B”, so Westbrook descended a tier.
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