Russell Westbrook already mired in inconsequential Nuggets controversy

It’s that fun time of year in the NBA when the most compelling news relates to players changing their uniform numbers. The Nuggets have already seen one number change as Aaron Gordon is switching from #50 to #32 to honor his late brother Drew.

Now we’ve gotten wind of another switch as Hunter Tyson is going from #4 to #5, a move that will allow the newest Nugget, Russell Westbrook to wear #4. Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports reported that Westbrook had originally asked Christian Braun for #0, but Braun “didn’t budge”.

On the surface this all seemed fairly innocuous and the kind of thing that goes on in most locker rooms ahead of the season. A little innocent humor and ribbing between teammates and hopefully new friends, but nothing more.

Westbrook calls rumor of disagreement with Braun a "fake story"

But then on Tuesday, Westbrook took to social media and fired back at Wind and the reported disagreement between him and Braun. In his post, Westbrook denied ever asking Braun for the uniform number. 

He said that no discussion ever took place between the two players and that he wanted to start on a new team with a new number. He also referred to Wind’s report about the incident as a “fake story”.

Westbrook seemed to mostly take the high road, saying that he and Braun are locked in and ready to focus on the new season. It’s a nice message for Nuggets fans to see and it’s good to know that there is no petty beef between Russ and any of his new teammates.

On the other hand, it doesn’t feel like great news that we haven’t even reached the start of training camp and Westbrook is already putting out multi-paragraph statements on social media to refute news stories about him.

The past few seasons of Westbrook’s career have involved more off-court stories than on. Various controversies have followed him wherever he has gone and it hasn’t always been best for his teams.

In the grand scheme of things, hopefully this is more nothing than something. But this was part of the fear with a guy like Russ; the sideshow. And big or small, it already seems to be starting in Denver.