The Russell Westbrook saga with the Los Angeles Lakers is finally over.
On Wednesday, Westbrook was shipped to the Utah Jazz in a three-team deal that brought D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt back to Tinsel Town. The team's confirmed the deal on Thursday.
Westbrook is expected to be bought out by the Jazz, and has reportedly already commanded interest from the Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat.
And while it sounds like Westbrook will soon have a new home, reportedly, one way or another, he was no longer going to be in purple and gold after the NBA's trade deadline.
A report from Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic is suggesting that if a deal could not be reached that involved with Westbrook, the Lakers would have waived the nine-time NBA All-Star.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was reported to be against waiving the guard, but the coaching staff apparently felt that it would be necessary to rid themselves of Westbrook as things in the locker room had gotten progressively worse. So much so, that Los Angeles felt there would be an addition-by-subtraction element to shipping off Westbrook, even if they received nothing in return.
Strong words about a former MVP. But according to Amick and Buha, a parting that was almost a year in the making. The Lakers reportedly tried to trade him at the 2022 deadline as well as this off-season.
While the 2017 MVP denied that these rumours impacted his mental state, the signs were clear that the relationship between the two sides had soured.
Things reportedly reached a boiling point on Tuesday night when ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said that Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham got into a "brief, heated verbal exchange" at halftime of the Lakers' 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The ESPN insider says Ham was frustrated with how Westbrook lingered on the floor as he got subbed out in the second quarter. After the game, the two were said to set their difference aside, but on the same night where the world celebrated LeBron James for breaking the NBA's all-time scoring record, things seemed to reach a point of no return when it came to Westbrook and the Lakers.
Westbrook leaves the Lakers after a disappointing with what was supposed to be the NBA's new big three with him, James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers missed the playoffs last season, and are currently 25-30 this season and 13th in the Western Conference.
Westbrook, James and Davis teamed up for just 44 games across the two seasons, totalling a record of 22-22, which was not quite what the Lakers had in mind.
It was time to move on.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin appeared on NBA Today Thursday, and claimed he even had a source tell him it was like "you remove a vampire from the locker room."
Westbrook can still help a team, as he averaged 15.9 points per game this season for the Lakers and was one of the favourites to win the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Thankfully, both parties will now get a fresh start and look to put what was clearly a doomed partnership from the get-go, behind them.
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