Russell Westbrook took on the Celtics as a member of the Nuggets for the first time on Friday as part of the NBA preseason opener and looked solid with his new team. The veteran point guard posted 12 points and a game-high 8 assists in the Nuggets’ loss, which led to Celtics color analyst Brian Scalabrine to bring up Westbrook’s recent history, including his stint with the Lakers.
“I tell you what, I’m rooting for him to make like nine 3s against the Lakers because he got a lot of heat for that whole thing so I’m kind of hoping he can make a lot of 3s against them,” Scalabrine said of Westbrook.
That led to Celtics play-by-play man Drew Carter to take a subtle jab at LeBron James.
“You’re telling me one of LeBron’s teammates became a scapegoat out of nowhere?”
James caught wind of the remarks at social media before firing back at Scalabrine and Carter on X.
“Took a trip all the way to Abu Dhabi to be on my….Eat some breakfast first!” James wrote. “Brodie a legend (salute emoji).”
The Lakers acquired Westbrook from the Wizards ahead of the 2021-22 season in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montreal Harrell and the move ended up being a flop for the Lakers. The team struggled to a 33-49 record amid injuries and less than one year later, Westbrook was shipped to the Jazz at the trade deadline as part of a deal that landed D’Angelo Russell and Jared Vanderbilt ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.
Westbrook went on to spend a year and a half with the Clippers before he was sign-and-traded to the Jazz over the summer. Utah then waived Westbrook, opening the door for him to sign with the Nuggets.