When the Los Angeles Clippers signed Russell Westbrook off the buyout market a few weeks ago, the reaction around the NBA was polarizing.
While many lauded the move and felt he would super-charge the team, some said it either wouldn’t make a difference or that he would even take the team down with him.
Reportedly, Paul George, who played with Westbrook a few years ago on the Oklahoma City Thunder, was a driving force being the signing, but some have wondered how Kawhi Leonard felt about the move.
Westbrook recently said that he has Leonard’s back.
Russell Westbrook on Kawhi Leonard: “Kawhi is great… He don’t gotta talk. I can talk for him. I talk enough for everybody. Anything he needs from me he knows I have his back. And that’s vice versa.” pic.twitter.com/VqMjI2A9ZN
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) March 12, 2023
Leonard has been one of the NBA’s best forwards for the last several years, but some ridicule him because he is very introverted and, some would say, uncommunicative.
But no matter how quiet Leonard is socially, there is little about his game that is quiet.
After missing all of last season with a knee injury and getting off to a poor start this season, he is averaging 23.3 points a game on 50.8 percent overall shooting and 41.7 percent from 3-point range.
Ever since January, Leonard has looked a lot like his old, pre-injury self, as he has been on a torrid stretch.
The Clippers lost each of their first five games with Westbrook in the lineup, and it looked like perhaps the team that many picked to win the NBA championship when the season started was collapsing.
But now they have won three in a row, including a victory on Saturday where they held the surprising New York Knicks to just 95 points on 35.6 percent shooting.
NEXT: The Clippers Have Bounced All Over The Standings
I have faith in the Clippers team. They are playing together. I think if Westbrook was playing more he would be a great success for the team. Go get them Clippers you can be #1!!!!
Hey Ruby, thanks for reading!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the same faith you have in the Clippers. Living here in L.A., I don’t really like how that team is constructed, and after watching Russ up close when he played for the Lakers, he’s too much of a mixed bag to be the point guard/floor general they need to win the world championship.
Seems like the Clippers are headed toward another disappointing early playoff exit.