Why Russ will work with the Los Angeles Lakers: 6-foot-3 from UCLA, RUSSELL WESTBROOK
This past year, the Lakers starting point guard was Dennis Schroder. The year before, it was Avery Bradley, and in LeBron’s first year in LA it was Lonzo Ball. Do you see a pattern here? Schroder is a great sixth man, Bradley is not a point guard, and Ball was a sophomore and not ready to spearhead a championship squad.
Westbrook is the best point guard to play on the Lakers during the LeBron era and he may be and likely is the best point guard LBJ and AD for that matter have ever played with. More on Russ’ dynamic with Davis later.
Looking back to 2018, when Ball was on the court LA was minus-16, versus minus-125 when he sat down (via NBA Stats).
In 2019, the Lakers were plus-183 with Bradley on the floor, but they were even better when he sat down; moving to plus-280. Lastly, in 2020, when Schroder was on the court the Lakers were plus-84, but again when he took a seat they were better, plus-117.
Looking at Russell’s on/off-court numbers from the time span, they are infinitely better, for the most part. In 2018, when Westbrook was on the floor the Thunder was plus-294 versus minus-15 when he took a seat. In 2019, the Rockets were plus-123 with the Brodie on the floor against plus-90 off.
Here is where things get tricky, overall Wetbrook’s on/off numbers are not great in Washington, but isolating those numbers to shortly after the All-Star break and they are right on par with recent year, plus-108 on and minus-27 off.