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Feb 27, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook (0) is defended by New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) as he shoots for a basket in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Russell Westbrook will exercise his $47.1 million player option and return to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2022-23 season, ESPN and The Athletic reported Tuesday.
The nine-time All-Star point guard and 2016-17 Most Valuable Player is entering the final season of a five-year, $206 million contract.
Westbrook, 33, was facing a Wednesday deadline to opt-in with the Lakers and new head coach Darvin Ham.
In his first season in Los Angeles in 2021-22, Westbrook didn’t mesh well with ex-coach Frank Vogel and became a target of fans as injuries pulled apart the veteran-laden roster. Westbrook posted his lowest scoring average since 2009-10 and the Lakers (33-49) missed the playoffs.
The Lakers are counting on a bounce-back year from Westbrook and better health from co-stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis next season.
General manager Rob Pelinka said last week that conversations between Westbrook and Ham were positive, focusing on the team’s vision for Westbrook as an off-ball guard. Pelinka also noted Westbrook bought in to Ham’s plan to be “defense first” as a team approach.
A two-time NBA scoring champion, Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 78 games last season. He has career averages of 22.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists in 1,021 games (1,000 starts) with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2008-19), Houston Rockets (2019-20), Washington Wizards (2020-21) and Lakers.
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