Nobody has had a tougher career trajectory over the past five years than Los Angeles Clippers guard Russell Westbrook. Not even he would have imagined that his career would turn out this way.
The future Hall of Famer went from being the league MVP in 2019 to not starting a single playoff game for the Clippers. To experience such a fall from superstardom in only five years shows how much Westbrook has failed to keep up as a player in today’s modern age.
Aside from the amount of minutes Westbrook is getting, another manifestation that his role is diminishing from a high-value superstar to a bit player is the lack of certainty about his basketball future beyond this season.
Russell Westbrook’s reluctance to accept a reduced role clouds his future with the Los Angeles Clippers
Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire wrote about Westbrook’s current dilemma with the Los Angeles Clippers and why he won’t likely get another deal with the Clippers even if he activates his 2024-25 player option.
Mathur wrote that The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Law Murray found that the biggest reason for the possible doubt over Brodie’s future is his unwillingness to accept a reduced role in Tyronn Lue’s system:
“The 35-year-old who lost his starting point guard job to James Harden in mid-November, and who team and league sources say had to be convinced by Frank to take on the sixth-man role when the organization’s power brokers deemed it a requirement, has a player option worth $4 million for next season,” Amick and Murray wrote.
“Does the nine-time All-Star and former MVP want to continue in this kind of limited role while playing on a veteran’s minimum deal, or might he have played his way into a better opportunity elsewhere?”
It would have made sense for Westbrook to complain about his minutes if he was making a statement with his game. However, the UCLA alum failed to make the most of his minutes with the Clippers.
He only started 11 out of the 68 games he played for the Clippers this season, where he averaged 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.1 steals on 45.4% shooting. While these numbers are serviceable, they’re measly for a player of Westbrook’s caliber, which caused him to lose the starting PG spot to James Harden.
His lack of a three-point shot is the biggest suspect behind his struggle to maintain his superstar status as he lost his explosive athleticism. It doesn’t look like he’s also willing to adjust his game, so he can only expect his minutes to sink as he struggles to fit in a league that’s in love with the three-point shot.
Unless Russell Westbrook learns to accept that his play style won’t fly the same way it did in the current NBA meta, it’s not only the Los Angeles Clippers he’ll struggle to stay relevant in.
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