Russell Westbrook lastly discovered a very good house late final season when he joined the Los Angeles Clippers. After shedding his beginning spot and being topic to fixed commerce rumors with the Los Angeles Lakers to start the season, Westbrook was lastly dealt to the Utah Jazz on the deadline, and promptly launched. The veteran guard latched on with the Clippers the place he regained a beginning spot and emerged as a shock standout within the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
Westbrook may not be probably the greatest gamers within the league anymore, however he proved he can nonetheless be productive in high-leverage video games by averaging 23.6 factors per recreation throughout LA’s first spherical sequence towards the Phoenix Suns. When the playoffs had been over, Westbrook had concluded the five-year, $205 million deal he initially signed with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in 2017 and entered the free agent market.
Westbrook loved his time with the Clippers a lot that he determined to re-sign with the Clippers — within the course of taking the largest pay minimize in league historical past. Westbrook and the Clippers agreed to a two-year, $7.9 million deal on Saturday, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. After making virtually $47 million final season, Westbrook’s new deal quantities to the largest pay minimize ever.
FYI
Russell Westbrook will go from a wage of $47 million final season to roughly $4 million this 12 months.
That is simply the largest paycut in NBA historical past, beating the earlier file by Blake Griffin.
Not that Russ is hurting for cash, although. (Profession earnings: $339 million).
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) July 2, 2023
Westbrook surpasses the $30 million pay minimize taken by Blake Griffin a couple of years again.
Might Westbrook have gotten extra money with one other crew? It’s doable. Both means, the match with the Clippers was higher than wherever else on a number of ranges. Westbrook is after all an LA native who attended UCLA for school. He added a obligatory ingredient of pace and rim stress for an often stagnant Clippers offense, and gave them one other high-usage creator when Paul George and Kawhi Leonard went down with accidents.
Will Westbrook be joined by former teammate James Harden on the Clippers earlier than subsequent season begins? Harden requested a commerce from the Philadelphia 76ers after opting in to his $36.5 million participant possibility, and LA is reportedly his most popular touchdown spot. Westbrook and Harden had been teammates in each Oklahoma Metropolis and Houston.
Westbrook will play a giant function on the Clippers subsequent season whether or not he’s beginning or not. At this price ticket, perhaps followers can once more begin appreciating Westbrook’s strengths whereas not focusing a lot on his weaknesses.
