One-time NBA MVP winner to switch teams in blockbuster eight-player trade
One-time NBA MVP Russell Westbrook is poised to switch teams in a blockbuster trade involving seven other players.
Westbrook, 34, will join Utah Jazz in what will be his fifth team in five years.
It brings to an end a failed two-year stint in Los Angeles where the Lakers had hoped his acquisition would elevate the team back to title contention, but instead they failed to make the playoffs last year.
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Westbrook will join the Jazz alongside Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones, as well as a 2027 first-round pick, according to leading NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Lakers will gain Minnesota trio D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt, while the Timberwolves will get Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The trio of Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook at the Lakers. Getty
Westbrook was once one of the best players in the league, and reached his peak during an 11-year career at Oklahoma City where he made the All-Star team eight times, as well as the coveted award for the league's best player in 2017.
This season he's been relegated to the bench for the Lakers, although has still managed four triple-doubles - one of only six players to do so this campaign.
Westbrook has reached the final season of a five-year extension he had signed with the Thunder in 2017, so will become a free agent after this season.
The Lakers had planed for Westbrook to star in a stacked team including LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but the marriage has not born fruit.
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