The Los Angeles Lakers have built their franchise by seeking out and signing big-name players. While some of the best to ever play the game have donned the Purple and Gold at one point or another in their respective careers, there are more quick stops in Los Angeles than extended stays for many.
One of the future Hall of Famers to recently suit up for the Lakers finds himself in an interesting situation after his team was eliminated from the NBA playoffs. Former UCLA Bruins star and current Denver Nuggets reserve, Russell Westbrook, took to social media on Tuesday to announce he will be undergoing offseason surgery on his right hand.
As painful as it had to be attempting to play high-level basketball with multiple breaks in your primary hand, what the injury could mean for Westbrook's plans for free agency could hurt him even more in the end.
Westbrook owns a player-option for the 2025-26 campaign, which would pay him a total of just over $3.4 million. After putting together averages of 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game in Denver this past season, the odds seemed high that the lead guard would opt out of his contract in hopes of landing a more lucrative opportunity as a free agent.
Now, however, that is much less certain. The Nuggets maintain that Westbrook will be ready to roll once training camp rolls around this September. Will Westbrook be taking the floor in Denver or elsewhere in the NBA? This is a question for which no one knows the real answer at this point.
There is no sense that a reunion with the Lakers could be in the works, especially now that the franchise has such a ball-dominant guard in the backcourt alongside LeBron James. With the way Westbrook has bounced around the league of late, it is hard to predict where he will go or what he will choose to do next.