In the summer of 2017, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder will officially become a free agent. The perennial All-Star will arguably be one of the most sought after unrestricted free agents that year along with LeBron James and quite a few restricted free agents that will also draw considerable interest.
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With Westbrook having ties to Los Angeles due to his short stint at UCLA, fans of the Los Angeles Lakers are already hoping he considers wearing purple and gold as a free agent.
Recently, during a game against the Houston Rockets last Sunday, the injured Westbrook was sitting on the bench and a Lakers fan in the crowd couldn’t resist the temptation to tell him to come to Los Angeles.
According to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman, Westbrook wasn’t all that fond of the fans recruiting efforts:
Lakers fan six rows behind the scorer's table screams at Westbrook: "Russ, come to L.A.!!" Russ starts shaking his head no.
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) November 17, 2014
Fan: "You can shoot all you want. Come to L.A. We got rings."
Westbrook: "Get yo ass out of here and go back to L.A."
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) November 17, 2014
With the Lakers struggling and little hope for the immediate future, fans of the storied franchise will continue to look for the next big-name player. Although Westbrook will almost certainly get a call from GM Mitch Kupchak when the time comes, a lot can happen between now and then with plenty of other notable players becoming available next summer and the year after.
Perhaps the most realistic free-agent target as of right now appears to be Rajon Rondo. The one-time NBA champion will hit the free-agent market this summer along with LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe.
Much like Westbrook in 2017, all of the players mentioned are expected to receive a call from the Lakers, but there’s no telling whether any of them will choose to come to Los Angeles considering the current state of the franchise.
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