With the season drawing closer, and a fresh face on the roster, here are three things to watch as Russell Westbrook suits up for the Washington Wizards this season.
What a crazy start to training camp for our Washington Wizards! After speculation from Shams Charania a few weeks ago regarding a potential Russell Westbrook/John Wall swap, most fans thought that chatter had died down. The front office did their best to convince us all that it wasn’t happening. However, that wasn’t the case.
The trade did happen, and the Wizards sent John Wall and a first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
Source confirms: Houston traded Russell Westbrook to the Wizards for John Wall and a 2023 protected first-round pick.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 3, 2020
I know a lot of Wizards fans will be sad to see John Wall go, and they should be! John gave the franchise everything he had for a decade, raising the organization from the bottom of the standings to a multi-time playoff team. He should always be remembered fondly in D.C.
Although the Wiz decided to ship Wall out, they received an All-NBA, former MVP in return. Westbrook and Bradley Beal should be an incredibly intriguing pair moving forward. If nothing else, this move proves this is Bradley Beal’s team. With Wall gone, he is now the face of the franchise, something Westbrook knows quite a bit about after outlasting both James Harden and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.
With the Wizards in clear win-now mode, all eyes will be on this backcourt to come out and perform. While the Westbrook trade may keep Beal happy for now, the Wizards still need to convince Beal that Washington is the place to be now and moving forward. His suitors are still out there, ready to pounce.
With Westbrook on board, there are a few storylines that will be worth watching. In the end, how these things play out will determine whether the Westbrook experiment is a success or failure in Washington.