Nick Crain | 1/17/23

Over the course of his 15-year NBA career, Russell Westbrook has been one of the most polarizing players the game has ever seen. As an individual athlete, he’s well decorated and one of the most productive point guards of all time. 1x MVP 9x All-NBA 9x All-Star 3x Assist Champ 2x Scoring Champ NBA 75th Anniversary Team Through more than 1000 regular season games, Westbrook has averaged 22.5 points, 8.4 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game. He’s notched nearly 200 career triple-doubles, leading the league in that category and has a 618-444 (.582) career win percentage. Westbrook has appeared in the playoffs 11 times in his career, proving nearly every team he’s played on has been good enough to make the postseason. With that being said, Westbrook’s teams have never been able to get over the hump. Since being traded away from Oklahoma City, where he spent the first 11 years of his NBA career, he’s been on three teams in four seasons. More recently, he’s become a bench player with the Lakers where he’s been playing a lot better.But even now, Los Angeles has struggled tremendously for the second-straight season. There’s numerous factors as to why the Lakers have underperformed since acquiring Westbrook, most notably due to injuries with Anthony Davis, but regardless the criticism seems to always point towards Westbrook from fans and the national media. Dating back to the end of last season, there’s even been speculation that Westbrook could be added to a draft pick package to bring new complimentary pieces to Los Angeles. After somewhat disappointing stints with Washington and Houston prior to his arrival in LA, could another move be on the horizon? If so, where does a player like Westbrook even fit at this point in his career? Using the ProFitX Athledex platform, we’re able to see which teams Westbrook would best fit on given his skillset, production, and projected synergy with the other players on that specific roster. A few of the teams that the model predicts could have success with Westbrook on the roster include the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans and Miami Heat among others. From there, we can even build trade packages for Westbrook with some of those teams. Any trade for Westbrook gets complex, but regardless of whether he’s moved, or sticks it out with the Lakers the rest of the season, he’s set to become a free agent this summer. At that point, any of the 30 teams around the league could decide to take a chance on Westbrook and sign him to a deal. And from what we see within the Athledex, Westbrook’s production value next season will be significant, and well worthy of a lucrative new deal.