Shaquille O’Neal has had some thoughts about former Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook recently, and it looks like the former big man wants the guard to join the Los Angeles Clippers.
O’Neal was trying to see things from Westbrook’s point of view and remarked on how sweet it would be for Westbrook to join the Clippers and advance to the playoffs.
"If I was him, I would throw it in the face of the Laker fans and go with the team that's making the playoffs."@SHAQ wants to see Russ with the Clippers 👀 pic.twitter.com/ENDRdiqGNn
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2023
The Clippers are reportedly one of Westbrook’s suitors at the moment and definitely seem like a strong possibility for him. The team parted ways with John Wall recently, and they could certainly use an injection of talent at the point guard position.
The Los Angeles Clippers have begun conversations with Russell Westbrook, sources tell me and @LawMurrayTheNU. Clippers received permission to speak to Westbrook and talks have started among franchise officials.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 16, 2023
Beyond that, Clippers star — and Westbrook’s former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate — Paul George recently made it clear that he would welcome Westbrook on the Clippers with open arms.
"It would definitely improve our team if we had that traditional point guard to kind of get us into things and make the game easy," Paul George said.
"And so hopefully Russell sees this and we figure something out."
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) February 11, 2023
However, there are a lot of other teams that are also in the mix. The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are among the teams that Westbrook has spoken to.
Russell Westbrook and his agent have spoken with officials from the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Washington Wizards, per @wojespn
(h/t B/R) pic.twitter.com/3fRR5DRcaT
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 16, 2023
To make matters even more difficult for the Clippers, there was a recent report that hinted at Westbrook’s potential hesitancy to join the team because it shares Crypto.com Arena with the Lakers.
That is something the Clippers can’t control. What they have been controlling rather successfully recently, however, has been their record on the season. The Clippers are currently the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and 6-4 in their last 10 games.
Surely, Westbrook would love to join a team that seems destined to make it to the playoffs. If George and star partner Kawhi Leonard can remain healthy, the Clippers might have a solid chance of advancing all the way to the NBA Finals this season.
That would, of course, be an exciting opportunity for Westbrook, as he hasn’t advanced to the Finals since very early on in his NBA career.
Though Westbrook is no longer the dominant force he once was in the league, he has proven the ability to still be an effective player, even if he is coming off the bench.
So far this season, the nine-time All-Star is putting up 15.9 points, 7.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game.
