The Los Angeles Lakers employed guard Russell Westbrook for a brief period. The storied franchise acquired the veteran when he was on the heels of averaging a triple-double with the Washington Wizards in the 2020-21 season, but the Lakers didn’t get that form of Westbrook during his stint with them.
Westbrook proved to be a clunky fit alongside forward LeBron James and big man Anthony Davis, to put it mildly. In the end, he didn’t even last two full seasons in Los Angeles before he was dealt to the Utah Jazz.
There have long been rumblings that James was responsible for the team’s decision to trade for Westbrook several years ago, but James’ agent Rich Paul cleared the air on that rumor and shot it down.
“And that’s false,” Paul said of the idea that James runs the teams he plays for. “I think that — and I can say that because I’m there. And when you think about that and that narrative, people don’t think about the impact that that has off the court, right? It hurts friendships, guys that play on teams, because they feel like, ‘Hey, I may have been traded, and it’s because you wanted me out of here,’ right?
“And I know that it’s not to be true. There’s something to be said when someone come to you and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this guy?’ You may say, ‘Eh, hm.’ Or you may not even wanna comment at all. And then they come back, and they come back, and they come back, and you say, ‘You know what? That’s what you wanna do, go ahead. That’s not you making a decision. That’s you agreeing with something because, ‘Okay, cool. If that’s what you guys feel is the best thing to do, do it. I don’t own the team. I’m not in the front office.’
“Clearly, he don’t run the team because there’s things that transpired that he didn’t even know about. So how is he running the team? The Westbrook trade, he didn’t make that trade, contrary to what people try to put out there. He did not make that trade, and I know that for a fact.”
It’s understandable why some folks assume that James played a part in the Westbrook trade and other trades his teams have made throughout his pro career. After all, he’s one of the best players the game of basketball has ever seen, and he’s been the centerpiece of plenty of great squads over the years.
Westbrook is long removed from his Lakers stint at this juncture and found a role as a highly productive complementary player with the Denver Nuggets in the 2024-25 campaign. Across 75 games played and 36 starts, he averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game in the regular season.
He helped Denver knock on the door of an appearance in the Western Conference Finals in these playoffs as well. He averaged 11.7 points per game across 13 appearances (zero starts) and provided the Nuggets with some life off the pine, even though he wasn’t very efficient in the postseason.
James is one of the more recognizable faces in the NBA and has been highly impactful on the court for more than two decades now, but if what Paul said is the truth, the role James plays in certain organizational decisions may be overstated by some.
It isn’t set in stone that James is returning to the NBA for another season, but it would mark his 23rd in the league, which would set a new record.