It’s a new day in Washington with Westbrook
NBA’s biggest enigma set to help team form new identity
In this era of nomadic superstars, one move soon becomes two, and a player who was once synonymous with one organization is the new guy again. Russell Westbrook wasn’t able to re-create what he had for 11 seasons in Oklahoma City, but he has settled into something that feels familiar in Washington.
Westbrook is back with Scott Brooks, the first coach who allowed him to play outside the margins until he discovered his greatness. Back with some recognizable faces on the training staff and in the front office. Back with the ball in his hands. And, for someone who is fiercely loyal and a stickler for stability, starting over in a place of comfort is the least Westbrook can ask for as he begins to play for his third team in as many years.
“We were looking at the second act of Russell’s career; what’s going to make him happy? What’s important?” said Donnell Beverly, Westbrook’s business partner and longtime friend. “Really, it’s just being at peace. I don’t think that’s where he’s been the last few years. I don’t think he’s been at peace.”
Replacing a beloved local figure in John Wall, Westbrook joins the Wizards after having already deposited an MVP trophy, nine all-star appearances and three seasons of averaging triple-doubles into his firstballot Hall of Fame account. Despite being one of the (angry) faces of the league for a while, Westbrook remains an enigma — a guarded, sometimes distant personality who has let the perception of him get simplified to on-court snarls and mean mugs.
But as he begins a 13th season that Beverly says has “poking-at-a-bear type of feel,” Westbrook’s smile is more pronounced than his scowl. Westbrook is positioned to dispel any misconceptions about what kind of teammate he is, or his leadership, because he’s with a franchise seeking to establish an identity that’s in line with his intensity and discipline. He can reject the notion that he’s some greedy grouch with a group that embraces his reputation as a go-hard go-getter. And he can distance himself from a failed rendezvous in Houston with his childhood friend James Harden easier in a place that simply wants Russ to be Russ.
“Russ is the most misunderstood player in the NBA. Because as much as he competes and has an edge, he has to play at that clip, because off the court, he’s one of the most generous, nicest human beings on earth,” fellow UCLA alum and former teammate Earl Watson said in a phone interview. “When you’re a teammate of Russ or a coach of Russ, you have to allow him to step out of bounds with that personality as much as possible, because that’s how he prepares and has success with the game.”
Westbrook’s ability to turn a statistical anomaly — the triple-double — into something so routine that it’s not only taken for granted, it’s used as a criticism, and his inability to get past the second round since his partnership with Kevin Durant ended in tatters, has tacked him with the label of a numbers chaser.
The perception has been that teammates had to pay a “Russ tax” on their statistics because of his ball domination. The reality was, after his MVP season in 2016-17, Westbrook made room for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, then slid aside the next season to let George have a campaign in which he finished third in MVP voting. In Houston, Westbrook moved off the ball, changed positions to fit into the Rockets’ unorthodox small-ball scheme, and still allowed Harden to be a first-team all-NBA performer.
“Everybody acts like Russell is a ball hog stat padder,” said former Wizards guard Antonio Daniels, who serves as color analyst for the New Orleans Pelicans after a previous stint covering the Thunder. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. He knows and understands when to take a step back, when to tone his game down a little bit because he’s playing with someone else who is all-star caliber. He’s an alpha dog, though.”
Westbrook wasn’t interested in a rebuild in 2019, when George forced a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Thunder moved him to the Houston Rockets.
“I think if he had it his way, he would’ve stayed in OKC forever,” said Reggie Morris, Westbrook’s coach at Leuzinger High in Lawndale, Calif., just outside of Los Angeles, “but the dynamics of the franchise flipped.”
The dynamics shifted for Westbrook, as well, in Houston. No longer with an organization that catered to his every whim and quirk, and dealing with a string of injuries and illnesses — dislocated fingers, covid-19, hamstring — that led to several stutters and stops, made the experience less than ideal.
The irony of the move to Washington is that four years after shamelessly — and failingly — trying to lure his former Oklahoma City teammate back home, the Wizards need Westbrook to direct a playoff push, help convince franchise cornerstone Bradley Beal to stick around, and possibly extend Brooks’s run beyond this season.
“It’s the second coming,” Watson said. “The Rocket thing was experimental. The relationship with James made it comfortable to try it, but obviously, it didn’t work out. I don’t think it’s no secret, Russ has to be the dominant ballhandler.”
Watson said he pushed Oklahoma City General Manager Sam Presti to draft Westbrook fourth overall in 2008 after closely watching his college games and summer workouts. He believes reuniting with Brooks will do wonders for Westbrook, primarily because he was the first NBA coach with whom he had success. Brooks gave Westbrook the freedom to make mistakes and play through them, and was able to criticize without breaking his confidence.
Westbrook’s relentless, borderline obsessive approach might be tough to digest for those who don’t see his dedication to the work and the way he elevates the most routine drill with game-night intensity. But those who play alongside Westbrook understand that you have to live with him occasionally doing too much.
“He’s a Lamborghini-type athlete. You can’t ask him to be a Honda Civic,” said former NBA player Anthony Morrow, who spent nearly three seasons alongside Westbrook in Oklahoma City.
Westbrook has long been one to take the slightest slight and turn his internal intensity knob past 10. A question about another point guard. Mentioning his preferred driving hand or any statistical trends. He’ll use it all to unleash the edgiest, best Westbrook.
Morris was coaching at Redondo Beach High in July 2014, when Westbrook came to the school to work out with Morris and a few of his high school players. After Westbrook pulled off a move, the team’s point guard joked, “I bet you won’t do that to Damian Lillard.”
“Won’t do what? To who?” Westbrook shot back. “I’ll do this to anybody.”
The kid laughed. Westbrook laughed. Only one of them was joking.
As chance would have it, the Thunder opened the season against Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. Westbrook scored 38 points. The next morning, Westbrook called Morris. “Where’s your man at?” Westbrook asked. “Your guy was talking [trash], did you see what I did to his guy?”
“You’re bugging,” Morris recalled telling Westbrook. “He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Yeah, he can get it, too,” Westbrook responded.
The Wizards have 10 former staffers from his time in Oklahoma City — four coaches, two front-office executives and four members of the medical/performance team. They’ve also given Westbrook an opportunity that UCLA, Oklahoma City and Houston couldn’t: the chance to wear No. 4, his favorite number and his high school number. Westbrook found an identity in No. 0 — often the choice of players who feel overlooked and slighted — but he didn’t pick it to make any profound statement.
Arron Afflalo wore the No. 4 at UCLA. Then after going fourth overall to Oklahoma City, Nick Collison had it. Danuel House wore it in Houston. No. 0 has been out of the rotation for the Wizards since Gilbert Arenas last wore it but — despite the Wizards making it available and Arenas giving his blessing — Westbrook went back to a number that carries a special meaning to him.
“It reminds me of who I play and what I play for. And that’s my family. My wife, my [three] kids, my mom, my dad, my brother,” said Westbrook, whose tight inner circle is more like a dot, in his introductory news conference. “I’ve had 4 since I can remember. It’s something that allows me to get back to why I love the game, why I fell in love with the game.”
Morris has known Westbrook since he was a skinny, 5-foot-9 freshman with long arms and size 14 shoes. Westbrook caught the attention of future NBA player Dorell Wright and the varsity coaching staff because of his tenacity and uncanny ability to snatch rebounds from teammates who stood almost a foot taller.
“I always had that mentality of just if you want something you’ve got to go get it,” Westbrook said at his introductory news conference. “It just kind of created a, ‘Why not?’ mentality, which is something I kind of lean on and stand on. It’s kind of my motto. Why not me? Why not be the person that nobody’s ever done before? Knowing that I’m competing and going out and leaving it all on the floor, I have this energy and swagger about myself.”
Westbrook simply isn’t one to sit back and watch someone do what he can do. The same mentality that he utilizes on the court applies to his everyday life. Morrow recalls going to the dining area at the Thunder’s practice facility one afternoon, and seeing Westbrook seated at a table, typing into a laptop and scrolling through papers, as he did his taxes. Puzzled, Morrow asked Westbrook why he didn’t just hire an accountant.
“I don’t need that. I know how to do my taxes,” Morrow said Westbrook told him.
While those close to Westbrook acknowledge that he is practical, there is no denying he’s very frugal. Brooks was once traveling first class from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles when he saw Westbrook getting on board the same flight and heading back to coach.
“I’m like, ‘Russell, what are you doing back there, man?’ He said, ‘Man, I’m not gonna spend the extra $300 flying first, I’m going to get there the same time you’re going to get there,’ ” Brooks said. “He’s a unique guy in a lot of different ways, but in a fun way.”
Beverly was at Westbrook’s house when he saw the meticulous former honor student examining a bill from his pool guy that was $40 over the agreed upon price. Westbrook called to complain, worried more about the principle than the amount, and the error was corrected.
But this is also the same Westbrook who would show up to the facility with boxes of his Jordan Brand gear and let his teammates rummage through to find what they like. Westbrook knew Morrow was a fan of his friend, the late Nipsey Hussle, and arranged for him to have a spot on stage when the rapper held a concert in Oklahoma City. Watson marvels at what Westbrook does behind the scenes, when no one is watching, when he’s not on the clock, to unify his teammates. He was responsible for bringing all of the Rockets to UCLA for workouts before last season.
“Leadership is not about what you say and all the [stuff ] people see and all that,” Westbrook said. “It’s about what you do.”
This is a superstar who doesn’t mind showing up to the gym, late at night, rebounding his own shots. Westbrook keeps most of his generosity to himself, only acknowledging it if it’s discovered — such as when he left a reported $8,000 tip for the housekeepers at his hotel in the Orlando bubble last season.
“It speaks to who he is,” Beverly said of Westbrook’s generosity in Orlando. “Certain things matter to him. You value people in that light or you don’t.”
Although his game has always involved hustle, Westbrook didn’t develop into the athletic freak most have know him to be until college. Morris said Westbrook didn’t dunk in a game until his senior year of high school and had just a handful of slams that season. Westbrook’s game back then, he said, was more comparable to Sam Cassell, a 16-year NBA player and former Wizards assistant coach who thrived on midrange jumpers and back-to-the-basket post-ups and bank shots.
“He was a crafty old man,” Morris said. “People don’t believe it, but we have game film of it.”
At 32, Westbrook eventually won’t be able to explode to the rim as he once did. When Westbrook’s athleticism makes the expected decline, Morris can see Westbrook reverting to how he played before he relied so much on speed and explosiveness to overwhelm opponents. Partnering with Beal should alleviate some of the do-it-all burden that he would otherwise feel with a younger team.
And, being at “peace” might ultimately allow Westbrook to get back to having fun, and potentially open himself up to a new fan base that’s eager to connect with someone who had previously been comfortable keeping outsiders at arms length.
“Obviously, I’m not the easiest guy to understand, whatever, watch play, whatever people may think,” Westbrook said. “A lot of times the things that are made up, people don’t actually know me to be able to say anything about me or what I’m ‘bout or what I believe in. A lot of it kind of goes in one ear, out the other. I think the biggest thing for me is just kind of going and being myself, which is easy. Being myself is, genuine and loyal and understanding.”