Russell Westbrook on joining the Lakers, fitting in with LeBron James
The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled their newest star Russell Westbrook in a press conference on Tuesday. The former Thunder, Rockets and Wizards guard spoke about joining the Lakers, fitting in with LeBron James and coming home to the place he grew up.
“It’s surreal,” said Westbrook. “I think it still hasn’t kind of hit me yet that, being from LA, growing up not too far from here, being able to watch the parades, try to go to them, miss school to try to go to them, being a Laker fan and being from LA, but now everything coming full circle for me is a blessing. You know, there’s a lot of things that I can’t put into actual words just because, you know, some of these dreams don’t come true for people like myself and I’m truly blessed and thankful for this opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”
Trade details
Westbrook joins the Lakers, along with a pair of future second round picks, as part of a three-team trade which included the Wizards and Pacers. The Wizards acquired former Lakers Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell, along with former Pacers guard Aaron Holiday and the draft rights to G-League Ignite star Isaiah Todd. The Pacers acquired the draft rights to Kentucky forward Isaiah Jackson.
The new super-team
The Lakers have been busy so far this offseason, building a star-studded lineup that centers on the new ‘Big 3’ formed by Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis. The team added notable free agents Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Malik Monk, among others.
Westbrook gave his thoughts on fitting in with a cast of stars during his press conference.
“As you know, Bron is one of the best players to play this game and his ability to kind of do everything on the floor allows me to be able to just figure it out,” said Westbrook. “I’m coming to a championship-caliber team and my job is to make sure that I’m able to make his game easy for him and I’ll find ways to do that throughout the game. As it pertains to ball handling and all that, it really doesn’t matter. There are many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands and I’ve been able to do that for many years and I will figure it out.”
The new super-team enters the season with high expectations with many fans craving a finals matchup between the star-studded Lakers and Nets lineups. The Lakers hope to make a run at their second NBA title of the LeBron James-era after a disappointing first-round exit in 2020.