One of the most reported-on stories in sports this week has been the buyout and pending free agency of Russell Westbrook. After the Lakers dumped him off to Utah at the deadline, the Jazz allowed him to become a free agent by buying him out of his contract.
Reports then came out Monday that he would be signing with the Clippers, and people started acting like this was a title-shifting move by LA. Like Westbrook changes everything for them.
Y’all! This isn’t 2016!
Plain and simple – Russell Westbrook’s time as a star in this league is over. Done. History.
This is more like it. Vegas knows.
Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a reason the Lakers were so desperate to get rid of him, and why Utah couldn’t buy him out fast enough.
He’s not good anymore.
He’s averaging 16/8/6, which doesn’t seem awful at face value, but factor in his shooting splits: 42% from the field, 30% from three, and 66% at the free throw line.
That’s a Corey Brewer stat line, as Kyle Slaughter would say. Aaron Afflalo. Evan Turner. Al-Farouq Aminu.
Mid. Average. Meh. That’s what Russell Westbrook is now. He certainly doesn’t deserve the star treatment the media has given him the last couple days.
And now reports are saying he’s going to start for the Clippers once he gets acclimated!? HUH!?
That’s great news for every other team in the west. Westbrook will take the ball out of Kawhi Leonard’s hands, out of Paul George’s hands, and step into a mid-range jumper and brick it. Over and over again. That’s the 2023 Russ experience.
I mean, this guy literally waved off LeBron James, the newly-crowned all-time scorer, in favor of an awful midrange shot, on repeat. He even did it on James’ record-breaking night and then got mad when LeBron (rightfully) got mad at him back for waving him off!
Not to mention that the guy doesn’t really play defense anymore.
The guy isn’t capable of tilting a championship race. If anything, I agree with Vegas and think he might hurt the Clippers’ chances. If he’s taking crunch-time touches away from Kawhi and PG, that almost certainly hurts them.
I don’t understand the hype. I get that it’s a former MVP and a big name, but his time as a legitimate star ended when he got traded to Washington last year.
I mean, the last five-to-six years, he’s just gotten passed around! I could write a really bad simile here about him getting passed around like a Kardashian or like Jennifer Lopez, but I won’t.
Ultimately, I think this is a disastrous decision by the Clippers. Why would you bring in this kind of distraction, this kind of attention, all for a guy that’s going to brick jumpers and beef with teammates? I don’t understand it. I really don’t.
I’m glad a lot of people on social media see it the same way, and see through the hype to understand that this guy isn’t improving the Clippers’ title chances. But mainstream NBA media – can we stop acting like this guy is relevant?
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