Tramel's ScissorTales: Has Russell Westbrook found a longterm NBA home with the Clippers?

Russell Westbrook’s 15^th NBA season is over. Westbrook’s career is not.

Down the stretch of this NBA season and in the playoffs, Westbrook found a home with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers signed Westbrook in late February, after the Lakers surprisingly found a trade partner (Utah) to unload Westbrook; after the Jazz bought out the final year of Westbrook’s contract, the Clippers signed Westbrook as a free agent.

Seemed like a foolish move. Westbrook’s skill and impact had been on a precipitous decline since the Thunder traded him in summer 2019.

But Kawhi Leonard and Paul George politicked for the Clippers to sign Westbrook. They were right. The masses, including me, were wrong.

The Suns beat the Clippers 136-130 Tuesday night, eliminating LA in five games in their first-round playoff series. But the Clippers, who played without George and the last three games without Kawhi, acquitted themselves quite well.

Led by Westbrook.

More: Thunder guard Jalen Williams finishes second to Paolo Banchero for NBA Rookie of the Year

Westbrook’s playoff averages: 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists. Westbrook’s playoff shooting percentages: .410 field-goal, .357 3-point, .880 foul-shooting.

Westbrook’s regular-season Clipper averages: 15.8/4.9/7.6. Westbrook’s regular-season Clipper shooting: .489/.356/.658.

Not all-star caliber. Not the heroics Westbrook showed in 11 Thunder seasons, but good basketball. Forceful basketball. Especially without George and then Kawhi. Westbrook gave the Clippers a chance.

LA hung with Phoenix much better than anyone expected, even when Kawhi was being counted on.

Clipper coach Tyronn Lue said Westbrook “really saved our season as far as making the playoffs.”

Westbrook is a free agent, and ESPN’s Bobby Marks reports that the Clippers can offer no more than $3.8 million, under terms of the new collective bargaining agreement.

Of course, Westbrook has made almost $300 million in NBA salary over the years. He should know, at age 35, finding a good fit is far more important than extra money.

And Westbrook seems to know he fit in well with the Clippers.

“You know what, this will be probably my first time actually in my career being able to make a decision," Westbrook said, referring to the contracts he signed with the Thunder in 2012, 2016 and 2017, which were financial no-brainers.

“One thing I do tell you is that I love it here,” Westbrook said of the Clippers. “I love the people, just the fans overall embracing not just me but my family and close friends. I know a lot of things have happened, but I'm grateful. I definitely love being here.

"As far as making a decision, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I don't really know my process because it's kind of my first time doing this. So we'll see what happens."

More: OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishes second for NBA's Most Improved Player

Westbrook was traded by the Thunder to Houston in 2019, and Westbrook played well teaming with James Harden. The Rockets made the 2020 Western Conference semifinals. But Harden orchestrated a trade to Brooklyn, and Houston cashed in and traded Westbrook to Washington.

Westbrook was his typical self with the Wizards (22.2 points a game and career highs of 11.5 rebounds and 11.7 assists). Then LeBron James endorsed Westbrook as a potential teammate, and the Wizards traded Westbrook to the Lakers. It didn’t go well. Westbrook became the scapegoat as the Lakers missed the 2022 playoffs and played poorly most of this season.

Tuesday night, Westbrook admitted this season was “difficult” with the Lakers and “personally, it's been a roller coaster mentally, emotionally.”

The Clipper trade renewed him, Westbrook said: “From that moment, mentally I was in a better place.”

Westbrook indicated that he wants to remain a Clipper and play with Kawhi and George. Ironically, Kawhi and George conspired to break up the Westbrook Thunder, by PG13 requesting a trade in 2019.

"We only have one goal, and that will be winning a championship," Westbrook said of the Clippers. “I think we have all the intangibles to be able to do so offensively and defensively. We can guard anybody when we're all healthy and have a team full of healthy guys. I think we all understand that.”

What we all understand now is that Westbrook’s career is not over.

More: Tramel: OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti still won't take shortcuts, despite ticking clock

Thunder report card: Aleksej Pokusevski

Aleksej Pokusevski has been an intriguing prospect all three of his Thunder seasons. A 7-footer with ball skills always will get a look in the NBA, even if he’s raw.

Poku remains raw. He’s only 21 but has 140 NBA games to his credit. Alas, a leg fracture limited Poku this season, and he played just 34 games.

Our series on Thunder report cards continues today with the Serbian who was picked 17^th overall in the 2020 draft.

Development: A. Poku wasn’t NBA-ready when the Thunder threw him into the fire; he debuted on his 19^th birthday. But Poku was much better in Year 2 and showed an upgrade this season. Poku’s player efficiency rating (PER) jumped from 12.0 a year ago to 13.4 this season. His VORP (value over replacement player) actually was above zero (0.3) after spending his first two seasons below. Perhaps for the first time, Poku looked like an NBA player.

Fit: D. Despite Poku’s obvious development, he didn’t seem to fit with the Thunder’s rotations. Basketball-reference.com estimates that Poku spent 95% of his court time at center. But the Thunder was outscored by 17.2 points per 100 possessions with Poku on the court; 17.2! That’s an absurdly horrid number. Poku might have achieved the impossible. On an increasingly positionless team in an increasingly positionless league, Poku’s problem seems to be that he’s a player without a position.

Rim protection: A. Pokusevski showed potential as a shot blocker last season. He realized that potential this season. Poku led the Thunder in blocked shots per 36 minutes (2.2); he blocked 43 shots in 34 games. Poku’s huge wing span paid off in the passing lanes and shooting lanes. Poku produced a superb block rate of 5.7 — that’s the percentage of opponents’ 2-point shots blocked by Poku while he was on the floor.

Ballhandling: C. Poku was a turnover machine his first two seasons. Still is, in some ways, but his turnover rate (percentage of turnovers on plays in which he finished a possession with a shot, foul shots or a turnover) fell to 14.0, down from 16.6 a year ago. That’s still third-worst on the team. Poku has a feel for passing, and his assist rate (percentage of teammates’ baskets he assisted on) of 12.4 was in the upper half of the Thunder, even if it was down from 16.5 last season.

Shooting: B. Poku raised his 3-point percentage to .365 this season. A 21-year-old 7-footer who can block shots and make 36.5% of his long balls can count on having a job for a long time. Poku had made just 28.5% his first two seasons. But Poku’s foul shooting fell to .629 this season, which is a red flag on future shooting acumen. And Poku still has a propensity for missing badly on occasion.

More: OKC Thunder: Revisiting 10 bold predictions from the 2022-23 preseason

Mailbag: OU softball

The Sooner softball team never fails to spark the imagination of its fans.

Patricia: “I had a conversation with my sister (who was not a sports fan until she started watching OU softball) over the weekend, about OU's sweep of Baylor, during which I mentioned that we have become spoiled at their exceptional level of play. And that I hoped everyone took the time to appreciate the exceptional quality of Sooner softball's play over the last several years, because it's so unusual. It's so rare (if) any team dominates in all phases of the game. Everyone talks about OU's offense, but they're ranked No. 1 in almost all statistical categories — including ERA (earned run average), batting average and fielding percentage. I certainly enjoy the offense, but the pitching and defense has been more consistent than offense this year. Impressed by how these very talented athletes are also committed to the hard work and fundamentals needed to consistently perform at such a high level. All great teams must be balanced, but OU softball has taken it to another level. Is it possible that this is coach (Patty) Gasso's best year coaching? She won't win coach of the year, but generating consistent excellence and teamwork from an entire roster of very talented athletes must be one of the harder tasks in coaching.”

Tramel: Gasso certainly has done a wonderful job building a program and putting together this team. But a whole lot of coaches go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, trying to figure out a pathway to victory. That’s never on Gasso’s mind. She knows she has the best hand. So I don’t know about her best coaching job.

I, too, am most impressed with Gasso’s pitching staff. To have both Jordy Bahl and Alex Storako (plus Nicole May), is like Gasso a year ago having Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings back-to-back in the batting order.

The Sooner dynasty is riding high.

More: OU softball rewind: What is Sooners' magic number for clinching another Big 12 title?

The List: NFL Draft quarterback parity

In the last seven NFL Drafts, 24 quarterbacks have been selected in the first round. Those 24 QBs come from 19 schools. Five schools have had two first-round quarterbacks; 14 schools have had one.

The school list includes a bunch of programs outside the tradition-rich. Here are the 19 schools, listed from least football pedigree to the highest.

1. Utah State: Jordan Love, 26^th, 2020

2. Memphis: Paxton Lynch, 26^th, 2016

3. Wyoming: Josh Allen, 7^th, 2018

4. North Dakota State: Carson Wentz, 2^nd, 2016 & Trey Lance, 3^rd, 2021

5. Duke: Daniel Jones, 6^th, 2019

6. California: Jared Goff, 1^st, 2016

7. Louisville: Lamar Jackson, 32^nd, 2018

8. North Carolina: Mitch Trubisky, 2^nd, 2017

9. Texas Tech: Patrick Mahomes, 10^th, 2017

10. Pittsburgh: Kenny Pickett, 20^th, 2022

11. Brigham Young: Zach Wilson, 2^nd, 2021

12. UCLA: Josh Rosen, 10^th, 2018

13. Oregon: Justin Herbert, 6^th, 2020

14. Louisiana State: Joe Burrow, 1^st, 2020

15. Clemson: Trevor Lawrence, 1^st, 2021 & Deshaun Watson, 12^th, 2017

16. Southern Cal: Sam Darnold, 3^rd, 2018

17. OU: Kyler Murray, 1^st, 2019 & Baker Mayfield, 1^st, 2018

18. Ohio State: Justin Fields, 11^th, 2021 & Dwayne Haskins, 15^th, 2019

19. Alabama: Mac Jones, 15^th, 2021 & Tua Tagovailoa, 5^th, 2020

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Has Russell Westbrook found a longterm NBA home with the Clippers?