After an extremely disappointing and underwhelming finish in the 2021 playoffs, Lakers President Rob Pelinka went to work.
Over the course of a few days, they made a number of big-time moves, including the acquisitions of Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Wayne Ellington, and more.
And while Pelinka and the rest of the Lakers brass deserve much of the credit for the team’s recent moves, Russell Westbrook has apparently played a part in it as well.
According to Trevor Ariza, Russ helped bring him to L.A. in a phone call just minutes after he had been traded there.
(via Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll)
A few hours before the Westbrook trade became official — but, notably, more than a week after the deal was agreed to — Ariza was officially announced as a Laker, and during his first Zoom call with the media on Friday, he admitted that Westbrook was the first Lakers player to try and get him to join up. And he started early.
“It’s funny because Russ got traded, and 20 minutes after he was traded he was on my phone,” Ariza said. “So I don’t know if he was telling me he was happy to be home, or he wanted to go to dinner or whatever, I just know that he called my phone like ‘yo, what are you doing? Where are you at? I need to talk to you, I need to see you.’”
Through 13 years in the league, Westbrook has only made the Finals once. Years ago, with Durant and James Harden by his side, he and his team won the West only to lose in the Finals to LeBron James and his superpowered Heat.
And now, years later, Russ is helping recruit players to a Lakers team being led by the same LeBron.
It’s crazy how life can come full circle like that.
But, hopefully, Westbrook can find some success with his new team. For a guy with so much love and passion for the game, he definitely deserves a Ring.
It will be interesting to see how he and the Lakers are able to mesh.
