Even though the trade isn’t official for another week, Westbrook took to Twitter to thank Wizards fans, with one of his tweets ending “I will forever be grateful and appreciative of my experience with the organization. Thank you!”
The Lakers fell to the seventh seed in the Western Conference and beat Golden State in the play-in game to make the playoffs before they were eliminated by the Phoenix Suns in six games. Davis missed 30 regular-season games due to leg injuries and then the final 2 1/2 games against Phoenix with knee and groin ailments. James was out for 26 games in the regular season with a high right ankle sprain.
Dennis Schroder played the point last season, and averaged 15.4 points, but he turned down an extension during the regular season to test free agency.
The 32-year old Westbrook was drafted by Oklahoma City in 2008 and spent his first 11 seasons with the Thunder. He was traded to Houston in 2019 and then dealt to Washington last season.
In his lone season with the Wizards, he averaged a triple-double (22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 11.7 assists) for the fourth time in his 13-year career. He had 38 triple-doubles in 65 regular-season games as Washington made the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
While the Lakers get their point guard, the Wizards get three solid contributors. Kuzma, a 26-year-old forward, has 146 regular-season starts over four seasons and averaged 12.9 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. Harrell, a 27-year-old center who will be going into his seventh season, averaged 18.7 points and 33.1 minutes per game in 68 starts in 2018-19, which was the season before Davis joined the Lakers.
