Russell Westbrook once said he would beat his former Lakers teammate 1-on-1.

Modified September 30, 2023 22:48 GMT

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are two fierce rivals on the court and good friends off it. They are both elite in one-on-one situations and have excellent skill sets on both ends. So, it would be quite interesting to see who would win if these two were to play one on one.

Comedian Kevin Hart asked Russell Westbrook who would come out on top if these two megastars clashed, and Westbrook made his answer crystal clear.

“LeBron James won’t win and he’s a good friend of mine. I’m just letting you know that I’m winning,” Westbrook told Hart.

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook spent a year and a half with the Lakers without winning a championship. Westbrook moved to the Utah Jazz and then to the Los Angeles Clippers in February 2023.

Lakers general manager explains why the team traded Russell Westbrook

The addition of Russell Westbrook made the Los Angeles Lakers a title contender in the West as the team formed a big three with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, the move never panned out the way the franchise wanted, as Westbrook was unimportant in both games and never found his role on the team, either as a starter or as a bench player.

So the Lakers decided to go in a different direction and move on from the former NBA MVP. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka explained the reason for the decision to trade Westbrook.

“I think when we did the Russell Westbrook deal, we did it with championship hopes, the big three. And obviously we failed to do this. work to fix it,” Rob Pelinka told Spectrum Sportsnet back in February via Basketball Forever.

For his part, LeBron James praised all the players who left the team in February, but did not go into detail about Westbrook’s performance with the 17-time NBA champions.

“Russ, {Patrick Beverly), (Juan Toscano-Anderson), (Damian Jones) and Thomas (Bryant). These five guys. We all started the season together and tried to work to make things happen and be the best we could be. So I applaud these guys and their dedication to us, trying to be as good as they can be on the floor,” LeBron James told the media in February, via Bleacher Report.

On the other hand, Westbrook had little to say about his time with the Lakers, and he seemed reluctant to discuss his role with his former team.

“Uh, it was an experience. Now I’m past it, I’m in a new place and I’m looking forward to it,” he told reporters via Tomer Azarly of Clutchpoints.

Russell Westbrook played 130 games for the Lakers and averaged 17.4 points per game, 6.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three-point range.

Westbrook will rejoin his former team on Wednesday, November 1st when the Lakers host the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.