The Los Angeles Lakers made the splash of the NBA offseason by acquiring the league’s all-time triple-double leader and former MVP in Russell Westbrook in a blockbuster trade with the Washington Wizards.
The addition of Westbrook gives the Lakers a third star alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis as they pursue the organization’s 18th championship.
It won’t be easy though as head coach Frank Vogel will have his work cut out for him integrating Westbrook as well as all of the other new players into his system.
Vogel is excited for that challenge though and more than anything is just excited he doesn’t have to coach against Westbrook anymore, via Nick Hamilton of NH ExperienceTV:
“Well the biggest thing is I no longer have to be afraid to play him, that’s the No. 1 thing. I’m excited to have him on my side and you just know he’s the ultimate competitor, he’s gonna do whatever it takes to win basketball games and I’m happy to have that on my side.”
There isn’t another player in the league that has Westbrook’s motor and also plays hard 100% of the time the way he does, which will be fun to watch for Laker fans.
Even though Westbrook certainly has his flaws as a player, that energy can be contagious and it’s something the Lakers will need this year given they are one of the oldest teams in the league. Even Kent Bazemore recently expressed excitement to feed off Westbrook’s energy this season after seeing a video of him dunking during a workout.
Westbrook always thought he would be a Laker
Being from L.A., Westbrook always had a desire to be a member of the Lakers and hoped it would happen at some point in his career.
“At some point,” Westbrook said during his introductory press conference. “Obviously being from L.A., you always wish that you can play for your home team and being able to do that. But that’s definitely something that always kind of circled around in my mind and maybe one day. But I always would come back and be like that probably won’t happen, but I just kind of waited to see if that would ever happen but now we’re here and I’m gonna take full advantage of it.”
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