After months of trade rumors surrounding Los Angeles Lakers star Russell Westbrook, he was finally dealt on Wednesday in a blockbuster three-team trade to the Utah Jazz.
However, many around the NBA world believe that the Jazz may ultimately buy out Westbrook’s contract, and a number of teams are already interested in signing him if this comes to fruition.
According to NBA on TNT insider Chris Haynes, both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls have interest in Westbrook should he hit the free agency market following a potential buyout by Utah.
His tenure was not super successful with the Lakers, leading many fans of both teams ultimately not loving the possibility of Westbrook joining either the Bulls or Clippers.
Westbrook very clearly struggled alongside another ball-dominant player in LeBron James with the Lakers. That could also be an issue for him in joining either of these teams, either joining Paul George and Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers or Demar Derozan and Zach LaVine in Chicago.
The Clippers do present the most obvious landing spot for Westbrook given his past success alongside Paul George on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The duo played together for two seasons, making the postseason in both seasons under then head coach Billy Donovan, who now interestingly is the head coach of the Bulls.
While there are obvious upsides to bringing in Westbrook, the downsides appear to be even more disastrous. His stats have plummeted in the past two seasons in Los Angeles, and he was at times unplayable on the court.
It is unclear whether or not Westbrook can ever get back to his All-Star caliber play. We will shortly find out whether it was just a bad fit on the Lakers, or if Westbrook is just not the same player he once was.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.