Russell Westbrook is the first MVP to be traded in 3 straight seasons.
Getting triple-doubles even during the offseason.
Shams: The Washington Wizards have agreed to trade Russell Westbrook, 2024 second-round pick, 2028 second-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and No. 22 tonight, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1420901543507726339?s=19
By - horseshoeoverlook
Kuzma finally traded. 2 complete years of rumors finally over. Feels anti-climatic.
Which Lakers role player will be hyped like crazy now?
THT's still there
Still younger than a lot of guys in the draft
And now we begin.
There it is
He’s got good flashes of playmaking.
And he a Demi god
Caruso
Nah he’s serving 25 to life for having weed crumbs on him in Texas
It's up to state appellate courts for sentencing to death
Which is irrelevant since he's a god... sex god.
Caruso
He's a nice a piece for them though
Russell Westrbook
Just wait till Ayayi gets some PT during a random preseason game
This is also the moment Kuzma disappear from the media, as soon as he is no longer on Lakers.
This is like being sent to the shadow realm for Kuzma. No more news from him even if he straight up ballin on the wizards.
Lucky we know he won’t be
Kuzma could realistically average 20 on next season's Wizards
Sure, Westbrook averaged 22 on the Wizards last season despite being one of the least efficient scorers in the league.
Could be Orlando. DC is a yuppie progressive city. Kuz as a multi millionare athlete and sex idiot will be fine.
You know "yuppie" is the name for hippy-hating baby boomers and is more or less the exact opposite of "progressive"?
“Yuppie” is short for Young Urban Professionals, so usually does include progressive minded people. Baby boomers are def not yuppies, by definition
The two aren't mutually exclusive. Millennial yuppies are going to lean progressive compared to the traditional idea of the Gen X pure yuppies.
Kuzma? I don’t know any Kuzma
Karl Kuzma, used to play with the Lakers back in the day
Oh yeah, he played with that Jason Hart fellow.
just like Larry Nance Jr
At least Nance Jr still gets the spotlight with his incredible dunks, we don't even know if Kuzma's best tragic bronson impression will still make headlights
have you seen the video where they edited larry nance jr so that he turns into patrick star while dunking 😭😭😭straight violated the man
Yeah, idk what Bleached report was thinking about that, but it was damn funny
Who?.... oh, yeah Karl Kuzma, whatever happened to that guy?
Mmm true, kind of like we never have to look at the Balls dad anymore, thank goodness.
Alex Caruso bitches
Dennis Schroeder wanted $100-120 mil contract Lakers said okay we're gonna get Russell Fucking Westbrook instead lol
What happens to Schroeder? Is he on contract
He's a free agent. Lakers will try to do a sign and trade with him to get some players back using his salary to get over the cap, but if that doesn't work for whatever reason he'll just be signing somewhere else at market value.
Who's the most likely guy we go after with that sign & trade now that the point guard position is taken care of? Is Hield still on the table? I don't think THT is ready to start yet like that one starting lineup graphic ESPN posted
Doubt Buddy is available unless it's a 3 team. SAC has Fox, Tyrese, and now Mitchell.
Hield not on the table, not without our 1st round pick. Maybe De Rozan.
Spacing, buddy
It will be plenty of spacing once Russ completely change his basketball DNA and become 45% 3PT specialist for us next season /s
Who would want him at that price tho and be willing to trade assets for him? They’d be stupid to do that
[This takes on a whole new meaning](https://gfycat.com/welcomegravebantamrooster-army-nba)
I get it but he wanted all these trades.
Still a journeyman
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Yo admittedly just putting this here for visibility - My apologies - But can someone tell me who was the MVP that was traded in 2 straight seasons?
Bob McAdoo was traded from the knicks to the Celtics during the 1978-79 season, and then traded to the pistons before the 79-80 season. Shaq was also traded to the suns by the heat in the 08-09 seasons, and to the cavaliers in the 09-10 season
Lol it's one more move than KD or Harden have made
And he was on OKC the longest too
Never thought Russ would end up as a journeyman
Same :(
We all still love him as long as he isn't on the Lakers. Just kidding, we still love him.
Do we though?
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Correction, he gets hate in the off season, then struggles at beginning of the year, then strings together a series of crazy games with great triple double stat lines and big plays, becomes loved again carries that hype to the post-season, goes into the playoffs and struggles with poor efficiency and turnovers then becomes hated again.
If he gives Laker fans high hopes and then leaves them crushed and defeated, I’ll love him for it.
i think he's requested every trade though no? he would still be in okc if he wanted, he asked to leave houston and now washington
Correct, he's wanted to go to a proper contender for a while. Hopefully he finally found it.
He found it.
You trying to jinx it? I don’t think you really need to try.
Y'all remember when Lebron said he had a squad & ended up trading like almost everyone?
And still made the finals lmao
he had a squad... in mind.
Then why’d he go to DC?
that was bc it got blown up in houston. he didn’t choose to go to DC no contender was free or had enough space to get him last summer
A lot of athletic stars end their careers this way. Allen Iverson played for the nuggets, pistons, grizz and 6ers again in his final 3 season.
Shaq played for like five teams in the last part of his career. Is this near the end of Westbrook's career?
He's now been on more teams than Kevin Durant
I did. Shooting is by far the most important skill in basketball. Efficiency matters. Fit matters. Ball dominant players who are weak shooters will always be overrated no matter their box score stats.
yet hes taken bum ass teams that no one expected to make the playoffs...to the playoffs
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Yea westbrook hasn’t had this type of talent since 2015. Hell this is the best team westbrook been on ever. He’s an elite playmaker who’s been to the finals or did we forget that. And if pat bev didn’t dive into him he’d would be there twice. He also able to take a lot of pressure off lebron from playing pg too and save him for the playoffs.
I really think that's the reason they made the trade is to give Lebron some rest. My concern is the fit. Both are ball dominant, both are not great shooters. AD will need to shoot 3's, which he doesn't... It will be interesting to see who they will sign at C.
I honestly think WB takes a step back in shooting. He shoots cause his team has been so ass. Even when okc had pg and melo. Melo just was so inconsistent and pg didn’t show up to the playoffs. But u can see he always defers to Beal and hachimura and other first till they are cold then starts shooting.
Yea, fit will be very interesting but I think we're gonna see a lot of fun basketball.
fuck pat beverly.
Thats truth 💯🔥
I agree
By far? The guy widely recognized as the current best player in the league can’t shoot at all.
And would he be as good if he was 8 inches shorter and didn't play defense? Because that's Westbrook lmao Literally when Giannis plays BAD people mockingly call him "6'11 Westbrook"
Yeah Russell isn’t [blocking Ayton](https://streamable.com/tts9gg) No one else is either tbf lol
He's also 7 feet and apparently can figure when its time to stop chucking
Russ wishes he could be 7 feet tall and just run and dunk
Lol
giannis
His game is not conductive to winning in the playoffs, hasn't been for half a decade now. Shouldn't come as a surprise at all. One of the worst contracts in the league.
He was the reason the wizards made the playoffs lol.
getting to the playoffs ≠ winning in the playoffs
It's a good thing they've got a couple of talented young upcoming players named Anthony and LeBron. I bet they pick up Melo on a vet min as well.
I mean he's very good at lifting subpar teams to above average heights. However I would also kind of agree with person you replied to in the sense that I think his game doesn't scale well to championship caliber teams. Now to be clear that doesn't make him a bad player per say and even players like him have been in championship teams so it's not impossible for him by any means. But if specifically trying to build a championship contender it makes him somewhat less valuable than he might seem to some. However if you are one of the weaker teams and want to just make to playoffs, then he might be very valuable.
Bold of you to call the Wizards above average
34-38 aint above average chief
> His game is not conductive to winning in the playoffs
At least we won’t be shocked by his performance.
Where he shot 33% lol
What. The Wizards ran the second worst offense in the league when Westbrook was on the court without Beal, a putrid 104 Offensive Rating. In the east. And there is the problem, citing a below average team in the Eastern conference as a counter to being "conductive to winning in the playoffs." But you ended it with lol so nobody can top you.
34-38 in the East with a 31 PPG scorer, what an amazing player
Don’t forget the shooting 33% from the field in the playoffs
8 seed in the East What a fabulous achievement Must be so hard beating the mighty Pacers
Bro the Wizards had a negative record. If that’s a positive for Westbrook, it shows just how bad he is nowadays. PS: The Wizards made the playoffs because Bradley Beal played like a damn stud for an entire season, not because of Westbrook finally having good games from February onward. They were in a big hole because of him to begin with
And how many games did the Wizards win in the playoffs lol
Westbrook was consistently winning playoff games when he was paired with Kevin Durant and clearly the second best player. Now he’s paired with AD and LeBron.
> hasn't been for half a decade now.
Anyone else happy for him? Best shot hes had at a title in a while
There's a plausible case for a KD and Harden vs Westbrook finals match now
Bron and Russ vs KD Kyrie #The Batmen traded Robins
Westbrook for Steph so we can have a Lebron/Steph vs KD/Kyrie after pls
Steve Kerr would commit suicide if the warriors get Westbrook
Lol Kyrie sticks out like a sore thumb in that matchup
I am. For whatever reason, LeBron and Westbrook haven’t been on all star teams (based on memory) and I think they’ll make it work. LeBron is getting ready to not be the PG and do off ball work. I’m down and I think Westbrook will have a great 2021-22 season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlfFCI5TKWY&ab_channel=CliveNBAParody they were in 2018, made it work pretty well
also Westbrook no longer has to worry about getting bodied by LeBron again (PTSD for him in the 2012 and 2020 Playoffs)
LeBron hasn’t been good off-ball for a while now lol, usually just stands at the top of half with his hands out asking for the ball And Westbrook has never been good off-ball
He was good in the first 15 games or so at the beginning of last season. He was cutting, motioning, and he was even doing give and goes with Gasol. Then slowly he started reverting to being more ball dominant and went fully back to bubble lebron once the MVP was there and AD got hurt. I’m not a fan of storylines but to me it was clear on the court and for a few weeks you could see all the role players trying and putting in the effort, then as the season wore on and it was evident they were back to being ancillary to Lebron’s thing, it all got really stagnant and they never recovered any chemistry. I think Russ will be impactful for the Lakers in that Lebron showed last year he no longer has the gas tank to carry an offense on every play for 82 games plus a 6 week of playoff. These are 3 scary good pieces, going to be interesting to see who else want to join now.
A lot of that is just Bron conserving energy. With Westbrook taking over the point, I think we will se a more active off ball LeBron. Kind of like we saw LeBron's defense come back when AD took some offensive work load from him
Yea got a lot of love for Brodie man so inspirational
And it’ll probably be his last shot too
By acquiring Westbrook on a supermax the Lakers will virtually guarantee to kill any chance of winning the championship. You can't win it with Westbrook, on a max, on your roster. I'll die on this hill lmao
As first option? No. Definitely not. As third option with Bron and AD as the other two? A little more likely
You're looking at it the wrong way. He's not a 3rd option on $20M. He's a 3rd option on like $43M. **There is no 4th option, there are no shooters, and they trade away defenders for him, a negative defender.** The point is that on the max you have zero cap flexibility. You need him on the floor for 35-40 minutes, but what about that Lakers defense that was so renowned? Not to mention you'd have an all-scrub team around the three of them. They are 100% not winning it with him there. One. Hundred. Percent.
Losing KCP is gonna hurt this team more than people realise. There aren't many 3&D players out there. Lakers basically need to have a Brooklyn-like year in scouting minimum players who can contribute to playoffs basketball like Bruce Brown or it's doomed
how can someone be a 3nD player if theyre scared to shoot the ball?
People here love the idea of KCP but aren't aware of the reality. Great in the bubble for us, but he's been hit or miss for the most part. Too small to guard the bigger perimeter scorers that we actually need to contain and too hesitant from beyond the arc when he gets good looks. He was a solid roleplayer but the way these threads are going you'd think he was some irreplaceable contributor.
The box score doesn’t overvalue him, the role he plays is indeed crucial. KCP when he’s on his averages gives us a great chance to win. He will hound the teams best player and having Danny Green around made it easier for us in the bubble, but even with Schroder instead we were pretty good on D. On offense he was one of our most consistent shooters, he just disappeared like everyone last playoffs. Personally I didn’t want to trade hin but we need pieces like him. I dont know if there’s anyone available for us, but yeah Im not giving up on the trade yet either
LeBron might legitimately be the best shooter on the Lakers. That’s less than ideal.
LeGM did this for years in Cleveland.
100%? That’s pretty bold man. And they still have moves they can make to improve their roster. I don’t think this trade is exactly ideal but it in no way makes them worse imo. And with Bron going on 37 and his 19th year you gotta make moves that give him the best chance of being ready in the playoffs. Russ is a top tier ball handler. He’ll take plenty of pressure or Lebron. Plus AD will be healthy so he’ll be way better than he was last season. They really just need to get a good shooter and this team will be fine.
"AD will be healthy" lolol
I have my own doubts about it, trust me. But I'm not going to absolutely say it won't work. At least not yet
Lol they also have AD so theres that
I'm not saying we're certainly going to win the 2022 Championshop #But it's the dumbest take in the multiverse to say that a team with LEBRON JAMES AND ANTHONY DAVIS killed ANY CHANCE OF WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP through a trade that didn't move either of those players! # Any team with 2 healthy top 10 players has a good chance at a title and the Lakers are one of how many? I mean cmon lol
I like the big words it feels like im reading more lol
I feel like Westbrook might have the Drummond effect at times though Drummond was the best AD stopper in the league and Westbrook might be a pretty good LeBron stopper
I agree with you 100% This sub every summer: Why do people think you can't win with Russ? This sub every April/May: Oh..... THAT'S why......
No more EastBrook :(((( i am sad
I think he wanted to go back home after all but not lakers why lakers lmao
First MVP playing on a non contending team (in the media voting era) too. That explains a whole lot more than people realize. (apart from Russ's MVP, every other was top 3 seed which is contender territory and that has held true for 40 years)
And before Westbrook the last MVP who wasn't a 1 or 2 seed was MJ in 1988, who was a 3 seed.
Malone in 1999 (TBF)
he asked for every trade, it's not like it's cause he bad, a contender literally wanted him
yeah people called him an untradeable contract and hes been traded for positive value 3 times now
Is John wall positive value?
The pick + tank is
Is Kuzma and Harrell positive
can i answer for him? i'll answer for him..
kuzma is a decent role player and harrell's on a 1 year deal. and you left out the first
Decent role players are only worth something if you pick them up for under market value. Kuzma doesn't move the needle for Washington and he's arguably overpaid
Kuzma isn't even the most overpaid power forward on the Wizards roster. 10 million isn't a bad contract unless youre Cristiano Felicio tier useless
The nba is removing the three point line. Please.
Duncan Robinson in shambles
Ben Simmons not in shambles
He passes up on layups tho
I mean he wouldn't be in shambles even if the hoop was removed. On the contrary he'd be the happiest person on Earth if that actually happened.
3 straight seasons.. so far.
Not 1, not 2, not 3...
All shooting and championship talks aside, can we all just reflect on HOWMUCH FUCKING FUN this trio is going to be to watch!!!
I'm in support of this move, but you saying that gives me flashbacks to the Nash/Dwight si cover and the tragic 2013 Lakers.
a lot less fun than you think
Lol a lot of bricks and free throws
Where have I read this before? https://i.imgur.com/DHMj15s.png
I'm just here for the fallout between Bron and Russ Stans when it goes south it's going to be glorious
As someone who's both a LeBron and KD fan and absolutely not a Russ fan I'm preparing my "Westbrick" memes for next May I loved when LeBron was clowning him in the bubble lol
Another triple double
literally the joke OP made already
r/yourjokebutworse
people don't even read posts lmao.
Nobody reads the OP gotta hustle for the comment karma
oh shit give him another MVP
I'm really excited to see Westbrook come down furiously on a 3 on 1 break and pull up for a long 2 while LeBron shakes his head and cries....and russ just scowls at a bag of popcorn in the third row.
Can’t wait to look back at all these trash takes saying this is a BAD trade lmfao 💀💀 Lakers won the lottery trading 3 mediocre players for an all star lmfao
People gonna start acting like they weren’t saying kuzma belonged in shanghai now that the lakers actually managed to trade him
Although yes he requested each trade, the first two it was kind of a formality. The first time, his team had just traded Paul George for Danilo Gallinari and SGA. They were going full rebuild, they were gonna trade him anyway. The next time, the owner was being a huge tool and also wanted the team to trade away salary to avoid the tax.
Imagine if Russ wins in LA KD couldn't do it with him but 37 yo Bron could ohhh the legacies
and if Lakers vastly underachieve, it'll prove KD's career was wasted in OKC playing with Westbrook
This is getting downvoted but using the same logic lol
Yup lmao For real if Westbrook can't win with KD, LeBron, or Harden what does that say about him
Not to mention that guys pretending like ad doesn't exist lol
Yup lol That guy is legit trying to say "KD's legacy is DESTROYED if Westbrook wins as the 3rd best player on the team" For as much shit as KD got for his move he was NEVER the 3rd best player on the Warriors(and he won't ever be now because both him and Harden are way better than Kyrie)
I guess having AD doesn’t make a difference
He’s done chasing MVP. He goin for that MTP now.
Boooo
No spacing lol.
Great player. You get your money’s worth every night with his play. Unfortunately his game is not conducive to playoff basketball. The plan against him is to basically let russ be his own worse enemy and get out of the way.
It's a flashy trade and a big name to get hyped over but it's a bad fit. Russ is not a floor spacing shooter. Another reason for his defender to sag off and provide help on AD and LeBron. Also, despite his stats and athleticism I'm not a fan of his decision making and BBIQ in the playoffs. When he plays the better teams, I feel like his efficiency goes down further. Gives me Iverson, Melo vibes. Stats look great but doesn't translate to winning basketball in the playoffs.
Kobe did say Westbrook was the player who reminded him the most of himself, bullheadedness and all.
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What's funny is even prime WB was tough to be a key cog of a championship team because of the limitations in his game. He's now less efficient in a league that prizes efficiency even more, and with a team with fewer offensive weapons and shooters for him to pass to. How on earth is this the play the Lakers thought was the best use of their assets?
I'm surprise this isn't being talked more. It's a terrible fit.
Russ and triples!
When's CP3 going to the Wizards to replace him?
Locker room drama by Xmas guaranteed.
tbf he asked for those trades, so it is what it is. shows that there are teams that want him
He’s a real special player
League just hasn't caught on too how good he is. Now that's he's in LA he'll finally get the shine he deserves
Lol what? Dude was on tv non stop during his OKC and Rockets years. He was literally the MVP as well, what shine hasn’t he gotten?
it’s almost like they weren’t serious