This Is THE END For Russell Westbrook's Career

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After being the 2nd highest paid NBA player last season, Russell Westbrook resigned with the Clippers on a pitiful 2 year contract worth just 8 mil $.
And worst of all, it seems like this was the only offer for him on the market so he was actually forced to sign it, just to stay in the league.
These are the last days in the NBA for Westbrook, and I would say certainly the last NBA contract. And the guys over on the Gilbert Arenas podcast seem to agree with me.
Imagine if he didn’t resign with the Clippers, where would he go? Who wants an aging ‘once upon a time’ superstar that still thinks he’s the alpha dog.
You know his tendency of running with his head through walls, bricking low percentage shots, and and worst of all settling for the hero shots with the game on the line. Despite him being far from a good shooter.
On the flip side, his passion, energy and dedication to the game is undoubtable. And Stephen Jackson went on to social media to let everyone know that what’s happening to Russ is totally unfair.
And I agree with all of this. But, look at the splits from his time with the Lakers and the Clippers. Pay close attention at the numbers.
Almost the same amount of makes, points, rebounds, and assists. And somehow, he was awful on the Lakers, and a nice fit with the Clippers. It’s all in the better shot selection. Meaning, that he didn’t force it as much and played within the team offense more.
And the truth is, that nobody wants to take on the risk of trying to see which Russ they’re going to get. Will he comply with the coach and the team’s philosophy or will he do his own thing.
That’s why there wasn’t a single offer for him from other teams even after having a nice playoff outing.
23.6 PPG / 7.6 RPG / 7.4 APG for the series, leading the team in the absence of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
He fed off of the rivalry that he has against KD blocking him savagely on a couple of occasions, Even Ty Lue praised him after game 1 where he shot just 3 for 19 but ended up being the hero for the Clippers, grabbing some monster offensive rebounds late, and especially for his defensive masterclass against Durant and Booker.
In a vacuum, these numbers in the playoffs can get you a lot better contract than a 2 year 8 million.
But they won’t play the Suns every other day so Russ can’t feed off the rivalry he has with KD.
This is another thing with Westbrook. When he really wants to play and puts his mind to it, he can be the best player on the floor. He can still put his head down and blow by the majority of NBA players for his patented one handed jams. He can still put up triple doubles across the board. But playing with him is extremely tricky. Especially if there’s another superstar on the team. Ever since the OKC days with KD, we saw when PG & Melo came to town, that wasn’t a good fit. Then the Houston episode with Harden, that wasn’t a good fit either and the most egregious example of them all was the Lakers circus with LeBron and AD.
That one year, when he was the lone wolf in OKC in 2016-17, he seemed unstoppable. He broke records after records, dominated the box scores and averaged a 30 point triple double for the entire season, winning the MVP award. But in the playoffs, the Thunder were dismantled by Harden and the Rockets in 5 games. In fact, ever since splitting up with KD, Russell has pretty much lost in the first round. His only trip to the 2nd round of the playoffs without KD was with Houston in the bubble in 2020. Everything else was an early exit for Brodie. And I hate to say it, but it seems like my assumption back from 2018 will be fulfilled. That Russell Westbrook will never win a title. Not with his style of play. Rushing the offense when there is absolutely no need for that and taking tough shots in the clutch over way better shooters than him.
The only good sign is that Russell did improve his percentages a lot in 21 games with the Clippers compared to his atrocious shooting splits wearing the purple and gold uniform. Also he took the least shots per game in his entire career. So maybe coach Lue is getting to him and will help Russ to have a decent ending of his career. And to do that it’s up to Russ to acknowledge the fact that adapting to the team’s needs means prolonging his NBA journey.
First video in this condensed and smaller studio, and I got another set with the good old mini hoop for the old school viewers that remember it. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.