The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired guard Russell Westbrook and three future second round picks from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson, it was announced today.
"It takes a special mentality of competitiveness to take on the role of point guard for The Los Angeles Lakers," said Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka. "We have seen some of the all-time greats master that role here, and now Russell Westbrook gets to come home and do just that. This is a very proud day for our franchise, and we are incredibly grateful. We welcome Russell and his family to Lakers Nation."
The NBA's all-time leader in triple-doubles (184) and 2017 Most Valuable Player, Westbrook is a nine-time All-Star and nine-time All-NBA honoree with career averages of 23.2 points (.437 FG%), 8.5 assists, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 943 games (926 starts) for Oklahoma City, Houston and Washington. Westbrook is a two-time scoring champion, three-time assists leader and a one-time Olympian, helping Team USA to a gold medal in 2012.
In 65 games last season, Westbrook notched 22.2 points, a league-leading and career-best 11.7 assists and a career-high 11.5 rebounds, joining Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average more than 11 assists and 11 rebounds per game in a season. He also recorded his 8,000th career assist, becoming the fourth player in NBA history with 20,000+ points and 8,000+ assists in a career.
The Hawthorne native attended Leuzinger High School before playing two seasons at UCLA. The Bruins advanced to the Final Four in each of his two seasons, with Westbrook being named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.