“LeBron James will not win”: Russell Westbrook once claimed he would beat former Lakers teammate 1-on-1
LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are two fierce competitors on the floor and good friends off it. They are both elite in one-on-one situations and possess a great skillset on both ends. Thus, it would be pretty interesting to see who would win if the two played one-on-one.
Russell Westbrook was asked by comedian Kevin Hart who would emerge victorious shoud these two megastars collide, and Westbrook was crystal clear on his response.
"LeBron James will not win, and he is a good friend of mine, I am just letting you know, I am winning," Westbrook told Hart.
LeBron James and Russell Westbrook spent one and a half years with the Lakers, without winning the championship. Westbrook moved on to the Utah Jazz and then the LA Clippers in February 2023.
Lakers GM explains why the team traded Russell Westbrook
Bringing Russell Westbrook in made the LA Lakers a title contender in the West, as the team formulated a Big Three with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, this move never played out the way the franchise wanted, as Westbrook didn't make the difference on both ends and never found his role on the team, whether a starter or a bench player.
Thus, the Lakers decided to go on a different direction and move on from the former NBA MVP. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka explained the reasoning behind the decision to trade Westbrook.
"I think, when we made the Russell Westbrook trade, we did it with the hope of bringing a championship, having a big three. And clearly, we fell short of that. But when something’s not working, as a general manager, it’s your job to fix it," Rob Pelinka told Spectrum Sportsnet back in February, via Basketball Forever.
For his part, LeBron James praised all the players that left the team in February, but never went into detail on Westbrook's time with the 17-time NBA champions.
"Russ, {Patrick Beverley], [Juan Tuscano-Anderson], [Damian Jones] and Thomas [Bryant]. Those five guys. We all started the season together and tried to work to make some things happen and be the best that we could be out on the floor. So I salute those guys and their commitment to us trying to be as good as we could be on the floor," LeBron James told media in February, via Bleacher Report.
On the other hand, Westbrook didn't have much to say about his time with the Lakers, and it looked like he had no willingness to address his role with his former team.
"Uh, It was an experience. I’m past it now, in a new place, and looking forward," he told reporters, via Tomer Azarly of Clutchpoints.
Russell Westbrook played 130 games with the Lakers and had averages of 17.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 7.2 apg, while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three.
Westbrook will face his former team on Wednesday, November 1, when the Lakers host the Clippers at the Crypto.com Arena.