Nuggets are the frontrunners to get Westbrook but there’s a catch
Jul 16, 2024, 12:42 PM
The Denver Nuggets are the favorites to get Russell Westbrook this summer but the long-rumored move is being held up, according to Shams Charania.
First reported at the end of June, the Nuggets have seemingly had the former NBA MVP in their plans all along, with even Nikola Jokic pushing to sign the current Los Angeles Clippers point guard. But there’s the problem, Westbrook is currently still a Clipper since he opted into his $4 million contract with the team earlier this summer. However, it seems he did so with the intention that both sides would look for a trade. The Nuggets soon emerged as a suitor. Westbrook opted back in despite a desire to join Denver.
Sometimes it’s easier to find a new home by re-signing in the NBA, which allows you to keep a few extra dollars and a trade to be made rather than hitting the market outright. This seems to be the case with this circumstance where the Nuggets are heavily limited in free agency by being in the luxury tax but could maneuver a deal for Westbrook using several mechanisms.
The biggest hold-up at this point seems to be the Clippers want to trade Westbrook to another NBA team with a small asset like a second-rounder and that club will then eat his contract and cut him allowing the Nuggets to pick up Westbrook as a free agent. However, reports have stated that if a trade can’t be found, the Clippers may just outright cut Westbrook—but there’s another catch. The Nuggets have made it known they like and want Westbrook so why would the Clippers cut a player at a loss when they know he’s valued by a conference rival? And what happens if a team the Clippers trade Westbrook to actually values him and wants to keep him? Well it does help that a player of Westbrook’s status wants to be in Denver, that means a lot in the NBA.
That status? Westbrook won the 2016-17 MVP. He is a nine-time All-NBA player, nine-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion and has already been named to the NBA’s 75 best-players of all-time team a few years ago. At 35 years old the UCLA Bruin has been in the league for 16 years and has bounced between five franchises, with his most legendary stint coming for the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s for the Nuggets division rival that Westbrook won that MVP and hit a famous buzzer-beater in Denver three to cap the first of his four unreal triple-double averaging seasons. But that was a rare deep shot for Westbrook who is one of 269 players to attempt 2,000 threes in his career and his percentage is 268th. Those shooting issues have really come to light as Brodie’s athleticism has declined. As told by his more recent playoff failures and his bouncing around the league a bit.
Westbrook’s lone trip to the NBA Finals came in his fourth season all the way back in 2012. Since blowing a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals to the 2016 Warriors, Westbrook’s teams have gone 1-7 in playoff series with the lone win coming in a bubble series where the guard missed four games and they were subsequently gentlemanly swept by the Lakers. After 11 seasons in OKC, he was thought to be a solution for James Harden in Houston and LeBron James in Los Angeles.
In going to the Lakers, Los Angeles split up their recent championship team that had beaten Westbrook’s Rockets, and to do they sent out Caldwell-Pope. The trade was such a failure that the Lakers missed the playoffs and Westbrook would end up being bought out.
It’s that final move that ended with Westbrook going across town to the star-studded Clippers, where he changed roles into a strong bench player. This transaction led the Nuggets to acquire Reggie Jackson as the Clippers moved off that veteran guard to open up space for Westbrook. And that’s not the first time Jackson and Westbrook crossed paths. Jackson was drafted by the Thunder where Westbrook starred and the two famously beefed there, forcing the backup point Jackson to be shipped to Detroit away from the team’s star. At the time, a much younger Jackson was adamant about being a starter in the NBA—something he would easily prove to be with the Pistons.
Now in 2024, the Nuggets, in a way would be using Westbrook to replace both Jackson and KCP.
Last season Westbrook played in 68 games, starting 11, and he averaged 22.5 minutes, 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists a night. He shot just 27% from three but still puts a lot of pressure on the rim and is a decent defender at 6-foot-4 thanks to his high motor.
There are many obvious issues with Westbrook but that’s part of the reason he’s about to get cut. And the Nuggets are limited on options for filling their backup point role. If the Westbrook situation falls through there are only a handful of experienced NBA guards still on the market.