UCLA Men's Basketball: All-Pac-10 Bruin Stuns NBA Team With Preseason Generosity

Former UCLA superstar Russell Westbrook rekindled his love for the game of basketball after a midseason move to the Clippers last season. 

The move proved so fruitful that the 2017 MVP took the largest pay cut in NBA history to return to LA this offseason. 

Now preparing for the regular season, news emerged about how the Thunder legend showed his appreciation for his new teammates after a summer workout. 

Russell Westbrook, the starting point guard since his midseason acquisition last February and driving force behind convening the weekend mini-camp, went around the room. He purchased an iPhone 15 Pro Max — $1,200 retail for the least expensive option — for every teammate present, from those with maximum contracts to those on training camp deals. Guard Norman Powell, excited, activated his as soon as he got home. “Taking us out in Vegas, I haven’t had a teammate do something like that before,” center Mason Plumlee said Monday as the Clippers began training camp, calling Westbrook an “amazing host.”

^{via Andrew Greif, LA Times}

Westbrook earned All-Conference honors while at UCLA, yet his basketball legacy only grew when he became a perennial All-NBA caliber superstar with and after Kevin Durant in OKC. 

The point guard bounced around to multiple teams, most notably with the Lakers in a big offseason trade prior to 2022. 

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka thought the Westbrook, Lebron James, and Anthony Davis trio would give the team another title, but the trio failed to even make the playoffs together in their lone full season.

2023 meant another change of scenery for the UCLA product, but Westbrook's resurgent playoff run was enough to convince him that he'd found a new home just across the hall in LA. 

Alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Westbrook's chance at an NBA champion could be this year, and the offseason hospitality for his new squad will undoubtedly help the team's chemistry in that pursuit. 

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