Russell Westbrook, a 17-year veteran in the NBA, is now at risk of starting the NBA season as a free agent without a team. The former MVP’s career has been on a downward trajectory ever since he left the Wizards, where he last averaged a triple-double, to go to Los Angeles and join the Lakers and Clippers subsequently.
After a rough time on both the LA-based teams, Westbrook’s last NBA team was the Nuggets, where he ended up declining a $3.5 million player option to bet on himself in the free agency market following reports of controversial incidents in their locker room.
His former teammate on the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr., recently appeared for an interview where he directly addressed how Westbrook was as a teammate and his opinions on Westbrook’s stint with all three teams he joined since leaving the Wizards.
“I mean, so Russ, like here’s the thing. It would be hard for any player to go from being the MVP of the NBA to then taking on a role where you’re coming off the bench, but you still have, like I said, even me going from being the best player to then having some injuries and having to accept, like, okay, I need to figure out a role. That’s tough,” said Porter Jr. on the ‘Justin Laboy Show.’
“So for Russ to go from MVP to then be told he’s going to play this type of role and to then, you know, go to these different teams and get disrespected by so many people. When he went to LA [Lakers], he was disrespected like crazy. When he went to the Clippers, people hated on him like crazy. Meanwhile, he’s been the MVP of the NBA,” Porter Jr further added as he called out the disrespect Westbrook faced on the two teams in LA.
In the three seasons after last averaging a triple-double in 2020-21, Westbrook’s averages fell to 15.3 points, 6.4 assists, and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 29.8% from three-point range from 2021 to 2024 (until he left the Clippers to join the Nuggets).
“So, I feel like all those things weighed on Russ. And when he came over with us, he came in with some great energy. Like, he really bought into the system. He was cheering people on. But it’s an 82-game season, so obviously there’s going to be highs and lows.”
“Any player on the team, not just Russ. We’re all kind of like at points and times in the season tripping about minutes and tripping about this and that. So it was normal, normal things through an 82-game season, but Russ and I had a good relationship.”
“I looked up to Russ in a lot of ways. When I was young, like Oklahoma City was the team I watched, KD and him. So it was dope getting to know Russ, and he’s a fierce competitor,” said Porter Jr as he recalled growing up watching the Thunder legend.
“Like again, like you talk about greatness like Russ to this day, like he’s a little older now, like he can still move and stuff, but he’s a little older, but every day he’s in the gym getting shots up doing his thing.”
Porter Jr also addressed the reports that led to Westbrook’s exit from the Nuggets, which claimed there were fights in the locker room caused by Westbrook.
“The things that came out were like normal, normal things that happened within an 82-game season in the NBA. I don’t know who leaked some of the stuff in the locker room. I don’t know if it was one of the coaches, but it was a little strange cuz, like, the things that came out, like yeah, teammates are going to not see eye to eye, and they’re going to get into it. It was little stuff, though.”
Earlier this season, even Aaron Gordon defended his Nuggets teammate at the time, saying there’s no substance to those reports having any significant meaning. Like, even if they fought, it doesn’t mean anything majorly bad for the team.
“Yeah. So it was nothing major to where he’s like this terrible locker room guy. I’m saying, Russ, he’s a real positive dude for sure,” concluded Porter Jr.
With the 2025-26 season only weeks away now and training camp set to start within days, Westbrook is not on a team. Ever since he left the Wizards in 2021, Westbrook’s performance has taken a dive as he has accepted lesser roles to be on championship-contending teams.
Unfortunately, on teams like the Lakers and Clippers, he was made the scapegoat of things spiralling the wrong way, and he tried to leave the Nuggets with his head held high by betting on himself in the free agency market.
I hope this is not the exit from the league that a legendary player like him receives. He left the guaranteed money on the table to contend for a championship and deserves to be on a roster that gives him a fair shot, even as a bench rotation player.
