A week after the Los Angeles Lakers dealt him to the Utah Jazz in a three-team deal, Russell Westbrook appears to be hitting the free-agent market in the near future.
The veteran point guard has been granted permission by the Jazz to begin communicating with other teams as they would be open to agreeing to a contract buyout. And there is the possibility of Westbrook returning to Washington, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Yes, the Wizards are among the teams Westbrook's representative has communicated with while looking to find a team that could use his services for the reminder of the season.
The Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, and Miami Heat have also been in contact with Westbrook's agent, Wojnarowski said on ESPN Wednesday.
With the long NBA All-Star break coming up, Wojnarowski added that none of the teams are in a rush because the buyout market may be quite robust and if there is not a role for him down the stretch that makes sense for both parties he could play out the remainder of the year with Utah.
The Wizards acquired Westbrook from the Houston Rockets in exchange for John Wall and a lottery protected 2023 1st-round draft pick ahead of the 2020-21 season. Westbrook, who played just one year in Houston, lasted just one year in Washington and averaged 22.2 points (43.9 percent from the field) on 19 attempts with 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds in 36.4 minutes per game.
Westbrook left in Washington in Aug. 2021 in a five-team trade that saw the Wizards land Spencer Dinwiddie from Brooklyn, Aaron Holiday and Isaiah todd from Indiana, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrez Harrell, and Kyle Kuzma from the Lakers.
In 52 games for the Lakers this campaign working mostly off the bench, Westbrook averaged 15.9 points (41.7 percent from the floor) on 14 shots with 7.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds in 28.7 minutes per game.
It is not clear if there is any interest from Washington (27-30) who hold a 1.5-game lead for the 10th in the Eastern Conference and the last spot for the play-in ahead of the Chicago Bulls.
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