Last week, the Washington Wizards pulled off a blockbuster trade, granting Russell Westbrook his wish of being moved to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers will become Westbrook’s fourth team in the last four years.
Coincidentally, Westbrook’s request to be traded came around the same time the Washington Capitals of the NHL had announced they’d signed longtime franchise player Alex Ovechkin to a new five-year contract.
Ted Leonsis, who owns both the Wizards and Capitals, recently reflected to ESPN on how hectic the timing was of re-signing Ovechkin while trading Westbrook to Lakers.
“We had a superstar player with the Wizards, he had an opportunity and wanted to be traded to the Lakers,” Leonsis told Emily Kaplan of ESPN. “And I was dealing with that as we were announcing Alex. I couldn’t help but self-reflect on what a difference it is. Here’s a great player in Russell Westbrook, played in OKC, wanted to be traded, went to Houston, wanted to be traded, came to D.C., wanted to be traded and is now in L.A. He’s an unbelievably great person and an unbelievably great player. But that’s the difference between the NBA and the NHL, I suppose.”
Unlike Westbrook, Ovechkin has spent his entire 16-year career with the Capitals, leading the team to it’s first ever Stanley Cup title in 2018. Ovechkin’s new deal will allow him to play through the age of 40 in his quest of breaking the NHL’s all-time record for goals scored.
Meanwhile, Westbrook is set to move with the opportunity to play in his native Los Angeles.
After 11 seasons and an NBA MVP award in 2017, Westbrook has been on the move each of the last three offseasons. In 2019, he asked out of Oklahoma City as the team was ready to rebuild from the Westbrook era. He teamed up with former Thunder teammate James Harden in Houston.
After a failed run during the 2019-20 season, Westbrook asked out of Houston. He was traded in last December to the Wizards in exchange for their longtime cornerstone player John Wall and a future first-round pick.
In Washington Russell Westbrook was reunited with head coach Scott Brooks, who also coached him in OKC. Westbrook set the Wizards’ single-season and all-time triple-double records with 38 in his lone season with the team. He also surpassed Oscar Robertson for the most career triple-doubles in NBA history. However, the Wizards struggled despite Westbrook averaging a triple-double and Bradley Beal averaging 31.3 points per game.
Washington made the playoffs with a 34-38 record, getting eliminated in first round in five games by the East’s top-seed, the Philadelphia 76ers. After the season, the team parted ways with Brooks after five seasons and hired Wes Unseld Jr. as their head coach.
Westbrook had openly campaigned for Brooks to return to Washington. With Brooks out and Beal contemplating his future with the Wizards, Westbrook requested his trade.
Leonsis throwing a shot at Westbrook is intriguing, considering the Wizards traded Wall after 10 seasons. Wall had suffered a torn Achilles and underwent surgery in 2019 which caused him to miss all of the 2019-20 season. He was gearing to return back to the team that drafted him first overall in 2010 when he was abruptly traded for Westbrook.
Interesting enough, Leonsis also took a verbal jab at Brooks last month during the Wizards introduction of Unseld Jr.
“Sometimes when you’re a head coach, a second- and third-time head coach, I don’t think you work as hard,” Leonsis said per Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Brooks was a second-time head coach.
