There’s always been a bit of controversy swarming around Russell Westbrook and the way he plays basketball. Even in his heyday, he was one of the most polarizing players in the league for his maniacal play-style that bordered on frenetic and out of control. He was an incredible player, as evidenced by his MVP Award in the 2016-17 season, but even then, there were doubts about his style translating to winning.
Years later and that’s still the book on Westbrook. He’s now 35 years old and a shell of what he once was, but he’s still a crazy athlete and competitor. He can get up and down the court with the best of them and pressures the rim like a madman.
He is a flawed player through and through; he’s a poor shooter, sometimes a careless defender, and he makes a lot of questionable decisions on both ends of the floor. But there’s no denying he can play and even at his age, he can bring a lot to a team.
The Nuggets, frankly, don’t have many options at this point. The team that saw Bruce Brown and Jeff Green walk last season has already seen the departures of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson this offseason. The only replacements brought in have been via the draft and the roster - especially the bench - is currently littered with unproven players with little or no NBA experience.
That would be fine for an up-and-coming, rebuilding team, but that’s not the Nuggets. The 2023 champs have a lot invested in their core which features the best player in the world, Nikola Jokic in the heart of his prime. The time to strike is now and yet, the team just seems to be getting worse. At a certain point, they need to make a move for a proven player who can bolster the rotation and earn the trust of Michael Malone.
All signs indicate that Russell Westbrook may be one of those players. There has been rumored mutual interest between the two sides and recently even talk of Jokic and DeAndre Jordan pushing for the team to add Westbrook.
He’s far from a perfect match, but he would be a massive boost to the bench. If he clicks with Jokic and company, this could be a home run addition for Calvin Booth and the Nuggets in the 11th hour.
Somewhat complicating matters is the fact that Westbrook recently picked up his $4 million player option with the Clippers. But the Clippers don’t intend to keep Westbrook and are reportedly working with him on a trade. So right now, the Nuggets can’t simply go out and sign Russ off the street as he’s under contract; they are going to have to jump through some hoops. So here are three ways the team can get creative and bring in the former MVP to be the Nuggets 6th man next season.
Option 1.) - Trade for Westbrook straight up
This is the cleanest and most simplistic option, to just deal with the Clippers and find a trade that works for both sides. This shouldn’t be too tricky because the Clippers seem willing to help Russ get to a good situation and they don’t seem to be asking for much - if anything in return. At this point, they’d likely be happy just to get Russ’ contract off their books.
The Nuggets picked up a $5.25 million traded player exception by sending out Reggie Jackson while taking back no salary. The Nuggets could simply use that TPE, sending it to the Clippers and absorbing Westbrook and his $4 million. That would be a smooth fit and easy business for both sides.
If the Clippers don’t want to do that deal things get a little trickier. The Nuggets have no available second-round picks to trade - they’re not dealing a first for Russ - so if the Clippers are looking for a little sweetener it would have to be in the form of a player. The Nuggets surely won’t want to part with a meaningful contributor but if push comes to shove, maybe they could throw in Hunter Tyson or Jalen Pickett (I doubt it, but it’s a possibility).
They could also trade for him without using the TPE and just matching salaries instead. The easiest way to do that would be to send out Zeke Nnaji and his $8.88 million. The Clippers may have some use for Nnaji as a backup big-man project, but then they would have to throw in more money to make the deal work.
Amir Coffey would fit financially, but he’s a player the Clippers like. The more moving parts, the harder an agreement becomes, but there are a lot of possible trade scenarios between the two sides if they are truly motivated to get a deal done.
Option 2.) - Get involved in a 3-team trade and absorb Westbrook
This may end up being the easiest way to make a Westbrook deal work; just wait for other teams to make moves and try to sneak in. The framework is actually already mostly in place here as the Clippers agreed to add Kris Dunn in free agency, but they are now said to be working with the Jazz to turn that move into a sign and trade.
If that’s the case, the player the Clippers would want to send out is almost certainly Westbrook and they’ll need a third team to take his contract so they can add Dunn. Well, enter the Nuggets in a perfect situation. They have the means (mentioned above) to make this work and the Clippers, after losing Paul George, are not under the first apron, while the Jazz are a cap space team.
That means there won’t be any crazy CBA restrictions that complicate a potential deal. The Nuggets basically just need to send a matching salary or a TPE to Utah and this can be a nice neat three-way. The Jazz or Clippers may want some additional sweetener in this deal, but that’s for those teams to figure out.
In this scenario, the Nuggets are getting involved just to help facilitate the deal, but it works well because they’d also get the guy they want. Hopefully, this can get resolved quickly as it seems like the path is already mostly paved.
Option 3.) - Westbrook gets waived and Nuggets sign him
The reality of the situation is that there is not much of (if any) market for Westbrook at this stage in his career. If the Clippers had a trade lined up, it probably would have been done by now. They may simply end up waiving Russ to get him off the team and free up the roster spot.
This could also be the case if he ends up in part of a separate deal that doesn’t involve the Nuggets. For example, if he ends up going back to the Jazz in the Dunn sign and trade (unlikely, but possible), Utah would have no desire to keep Westbrook on their roster and would almost certainly buy him out of his contract.
At that point, whatever team waives Westbrook would send him to free agency. Then Russ could sign with any team and the Nuggets could move to the front of the line without having to figure out any complicated trade details.
The Nuggets could offer Russ a veteran minimum contract or part of their $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception. Then Westbrook would be free to join the Nuggets immediately and the team wouldn’t have to part with anything but money.
Any of these three options would ultimately work and get Westbrook to Denver, which seems like the way things are trending. Hopefully, it’s as painless as possible and the team can get this done and start focusing on other holes in the roster.