Russell Westbrook’s debut season in Los Angeles can only be described as a complete disaster. From the jump, he played poorly and his Lakers struggled to make any kind of traction in the standings.
They ended the season 11th in the West and Westbrook was blamed for much of the team’s problems.
Now that the 2021-22 campaign is all said and done, the Lakers are going to be working to move on from Westbrook completely. According to the words of one NBA executive, Oklahoma City is the most likely landing spot for the former MVP point guard.
The exec — who works for a Western Conference team — recently told Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney that OKC is the ideal landing spot for Westbrook, who failed to make an impact in La La Land this past season.
“The most likely scenario is still Russ ending up back in Oklahoma City, they can absorb him into cap space, give him a year where he can get back to being himself and grab a couple of picks in the process,” the exec told Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney.
“It might not be the best thing as far as development goes, but it would be good for the fan base and they’d come away with some assets for it. It’s the dream scenario for Russ and for the Lakers, really, too, if they get another team to go along with it and come away with a player or two who actually fits.”
It has been years since Russ split from the Thunder. He was the last domino to fall after OKC’s defeat in the 2012 Finals. Today, they aren’t anywhere close to being in contention and still have a haul of picks to find their next young star.
In the meantime, Russ could help keep the Thunder interesting and maybe serve as a mentor to some of the younger guys on the team. At the very least, his return would be a treat for the fans who were around when he was dominating with the franchise before.
A lot still has to happen before such a scenario actually happens, but don’t be surprised if Russ returns to his original team this summer.
