LeBron James will have yet another superstar teammate next season. The Lakers completed a trade to secure the services of Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards. Westbrook showed last season that he can still play at the highest level last season, putting up numbers only he can make seem normal.
Westbrook led the league in assists and triple-doubles last season. Westbrook is an elite scorer and a great playmaker, much like LeBron James. The two of them excel at all ends of the court, with them being able to dominate the stats and the boards on a consistent basis each night.
There are concerns about James and Westbrook linking up with each other because of this reason. Both players thrive when the ball is in their hands. Westbrook and James are strong decision-makers, whether it be while scoring or assisting.
But James and Westbrook will not be able to put up the numbers that they do on a regular basis. Westbrook does pride himself on his statistical output during his matches, and so having James continue to be the primary ball-handler may create problems.
But what will happen when both LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are one assist away from a triple-double? One TikTok user made an attempt to picture how this would happen. In the video, two people portraying LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are seen approaching the hoop constantly passing the ball to each other to set up their partner to score. But neither player would take the chance to score, rather settling for the assist to help secure the triple-double for themselves.
While the joke itself was very funny, it is unlikely that this will be the case when both Westbrook and James team-up. The two are some of the smartest minds in the history of the game and will know what it takes to succeed. Furthermore, both James and Westbrook are hungry to win an NBA title, so they will do whatever it takes to ensure that their games mesh well with each other.
