Russel Westbrook is Officially Headed Back Home
By: Isaiah Alejo
On June 29, 2021, The Los Angeles Lakers acquired former Most Valuable Player (MVP) Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards. Westbrook is heading back home, and it could not have happened at a better time. Throughout his 13-year career he has never been able to win an NBA championship. With Westbrook headed home, he now joins Lebron James and Anthony Davis in hopes of winning a championship for the team he grew up rooting for.
In the past four years the Lakers have acquired three-time-champion LeBron James through Free Agency, Superstar Anthony Davis through a blockbuster trade and now Russel Westbrook through a blockbuster trade as well. Whenever a team trades for an NBA Superstar, we categorize it as a blockbuster trade. The Russel Westbrook blockbuster trade makes L.A. a team ready to compete for a championship. Looking at the two Los Angeles blockbuster trades, the Davis trade was the most important so far. Davis proved his worth by winning a championship in his first year as a Laker. If Westbrook wins a championship for the Lakers, fans can look back and discuss which blockbuster trade was the most important for the Lakers post Kobe era.
This Westbrook blockbuster trade shocked the sports world for multiple reasons. The first one is that the Lakers have their version of a big three. The other reason why this trade broke the sports world is because after 13 seasons Westbrook is finally coming back home.
Russell Westbrook was born in Long Beach, California on Nov. 12,1988. His parents eventually moved to Hawthorne, California where he would graduate from Leuzinger High School. He would then attend University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and start to make a name for himself. From his time with the Bruins, he had earned Third Team All-Pac10, Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and Pac-10 All- defensive Team. During his time with the Bruins, Westbrook started to fall more in love with the city.
In 2008, he declared for the NBA draft and would be later drafted by the Seattle Supersonics. Though he was excited to start his NBA career, there was a part of him that would miss L.A. over the course of his time with the Supersonics, they would eventually move to , and change their name to the Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder. Westbrook would go on to play for this team for ten years, and during those years he blossomed into the Basketball Superstar we know today.
With the OKC Thunder he was a seven-time all-star, two-time All-NBA first team, five time All-NBA Second Team, NBA Rookie of the Year and won the NBA MVP award.
The kid from Long Beach took the league by storm, and soon enough started to gain respect from his peers. Unfortunately, Westbrook would have to say goodbye to the place he called home for the past ten years. In 2018, he would be traded to the Houston Rockets to join forces with James Harden to compete for a championship. The Superstar duo would make the playoffs, and later be eliminated by the Lakers. This duo would only last one season, then Westbrook would be on the move once again.
Westbrook shipped off to the Washington Wizards where he would only last one season. After enduring all of the hardships these past two years, he is coming back home to play for the team he grew up rooting for! Now being with the Lakers the fans can see how happy Westbrook is, just look at that smile when he was officially introduced as a Laker. It is all smiles in L.A with the signing of Westbrook.
Throughout his career he has endured hate and criticism from players and fans on his competitive nature. Westbrook is going to trash talk, get aggressive and go 100 mph every time he is on the court. He will call a player out if he had made a mistake, and most of the time there will be some passion behind it. Even though some players dislike Westbrook, they still respect him and his game. This is the man that broke Oscar Robinson's record for most triple doubles and averaged a triple double for a whole season.
Westbrook is a future Hall of Famer whenever he decides to walk away from the game. What he has achieved in his career solidifies him to receive that orange jacket.
The Lakers will be looking to put up banner #18 this year after acquiring another NBA Superstar. The Lakers fell short of their goal to win back-to-back titles last year. However, with the Lakers having a Superstar caliber player in Russell Westbrook this team is in great position to bring another title back to LA.