This summer, the Denver Nuggets bolstered their bench with the addition of Russell Westbrook via a two-year, $6.8 million deal.
Westbrook is back in the lab this summer, and he went viral with his workout videos of him knocking down threes. However, despite showing off his seemingly newfound shooting stroke, many people remain skeptical of his outside shooting, including ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst.
In a recent episode of the Hoop Collective Podcast, both veteran writers offered one piece of advice to the Denver Nuggets on how to utilize Russell Westbrook on the offensive end.
“Their 4th leading volume shooter was Reggie Jackson, who actually shot it pretty well. And they replaced him with Russell Westbrook, who is literally the worst volume 3-point shooter in the history of the NBA,” Bontemps said. “People might think that’s an exaggeration, but for all the guys who have shot at least 4,000 threes in their career, he has the worst percentage of anybody.”
“I wouldn’t let him shoot any more threes ever again, quite honestly,” Windhorst replied.
What the Denver Nuggets will get out of Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is not known as a great outside shooter, as he shot 30.4 percent from three-point land in his NBA career. However, he can still score with his athleticism and ability to push the ball, from which the Denver Nuggets will hugely benefit.
To his credit, the nine-time NBA All-Star fully embraced his Sixth Man role when he joined the Los Angeles Clippers in the middle of the 2022–23 campaign. Last season, he averaged 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 45.4 percent from the floor in 68 regular season games (11 starts).
With the Denver Nuggets, the one-time NBA MVP will likely serve as backup behind Jamal Murray, who signed a $208 million extension earlier this week.
