Ranking Top Landing Spots If Utah Jazz Buy Out Russell Westbrook

Ever since the Utah Jazz acquired Russell Westbrook ahead of the NBA trade deadline, a buyout and relocation has felt inevitable.

On Thursday, a week after the move, we got an influx of information on Westbrook's potential landing spots.

"The Los Angeles Clippers have begun conversations with Russell Westbrook," The Athletic's Shams Charania and Law Murray reported. "Clippers received permission to speak to Westbrook and talks have started among franchise officials."

Shortly thereafter, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reminded us that the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat could also be in the mix.

But which spot makes the most sense? With less than two weeks before the March 1 deadline for Utah to release Westbrook and preserve his postseason eligibility for his next team, we'll rank the best landing spots for the one-time MVP based on fit and need.

4. Los Angeles Clippers

Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

Paul George and Terance Mann

It's tempting to attach every available big name to a big market. And while there's no reason to doubt Charania's reporting or L.A.'s interest in Westbrook, there are plenty of reasons to doubt his fit there.

One of the reasons it didn't work with the Los Angeles Lakers was Westbrook's need to dominate the ball. And I do mean need.

Russ might not have even desired the kind of usage he had with the Wizards, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder. In fact, he did a pretty good job of accepting and acclimating to a bench role this season.

But he's most effective when he can command an offense, and his opportunities to do so were always going to be limited alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. When he's on the floor with other ball-dominant players, it's a problem.

In the five-plus seasons since he won MVP, Westbrook has only hit 29.3 percent of his three-point attempts. His inability to shoot is clearly known throughout the league, and opposing defenses are plenty comfortable sagging off him and crowding driving lanes.

That plagued LeBron and AD in the same way it would Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for L.A.'s other team.

The fifth-place Clippers' recent ascent in the Western Conference standings has coincided pretty well with the insertion of Terance Mann into the starting five as a nominal point guard. He doesn't handle the ball much, but that simply opens possessions for the stars. And his 38.2 three-point percentage is good enough to keep his defenders honest when Kawhi or PG create.

Westbrook would almost certainly be the opposite of all that.

Of course, he did have some success alongside George in OKC, but that was all the way back in 2017-18 and 2018-19. And if the partnership had really been that successful, PG may not have pushed for his trade to the Clippers.

Reuniting those two on a team with Kawhi would generate plenty of headlines, but L.A. would be better off staying the course. It's plus-6.1 points per 100 possessions (87th percentile) when Mann, Leonard and George are all on the floor.

3. Miami Heat

Megan Briggs/Getty Images

Jimmy Butler

A lot of the same concerns that would come with a Westbrook-Clippers pairing could probably just be copied and pasted here.

Like L.A., the Miami Heat already have stars taking up plenty of possessions. Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler are at 26.0, 25.8 and 25.4, respectively, in usage percentage.

Trying to shoehorn Westbrook into that mix has disaster potential, especially with Butler and Adebayo both being non-factors from three-point range. Having all three on the floor, even if the other two spots were filled by sharpshooters such as Herro, Max Strus or Duncan Robinson, would bring 1990s NBA flashbacks.

The reason Miami is one spot ahead of the Clippers, though, is a 25th-ranked offense that craters when Butler is off the floor.

If the Heat could sell Westbrook on remaining in a bench role and letting him play drive-and-kick with Robinson, Strus and one or two other shooters for 15-20 minutes a night, this landing spot would have some potential.

The few extra minutes alongside Butler and Adebayo would be trickier to figure out, but the competitiveness of all three and the coaching of Erik Spoelstra might make it work.

2. Chicago Bulls

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine

Westbrook playing with DeMar DeRozan would bring all the same spacing concerns. The usage conundrum would be in play too. Right now, DeRozan and Zach LaVine are both over 27 percent in usage, while Nikola Vučević is over 21 percent.

But after Chicago sat out a trade deadline it could've justified buying or selling at, it feels like it has to do something before the end of the season.

The Bulls are outside the Eastern Conference play-in picture. They've dropped five straight games, a stretch that includes losses to the Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers. And when all three of DeRozan, LaVine and Vučević are on the floor, the team is a positively mediocre plus-1.0 points per 100 possessions.

A lot of the issues can be attributed to the continuing and somewhat mysterious absence of Lonzo Ball, who's out because of a knee injury. And if he's going to miss the rest of the season, Chicago needs a jolt, even if it's an imperfect one.

As flawed as this post-prime version of Russ is, he's still significantly more productive than Ayo Dosunmu. And his ability to get to the paint could create more driving opportunities for DeRozan and LaVine against rotating or closing defenders.

Adding Westbrook certainly wouldn't guarantee a push into the play-in games, but it somehow feels safer than a status quo that's been thoroughly uninspiring.

1. Washington Wizards

Will Newton/Getty Images

Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal as teammates in 2021.

Let's run it back with Westbrook and Washington, the last place he was truly able to be himself (and in a way that actually helped).

In his lone campaign as a Wizard, Westbrook averaged 22.2 points, a career-high 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds per game (including 23.6 points, 13.1 assists and 12.8 rebounds after the All-Star break that season, 2020-21). More importantly, Washington was plus-0.8 points per 100 possessions when Bradley Beal played with Westbrook (compared to minus-2.1 when Beal played without him).

Now, that partnership would also be surrounded by the floor spacing and defensive versatility of Kristaps Porziņģis, Kyle Kuzma and Deni Avdija.

As a chaos merchant surrounded by willing and able shooters, Westbrook can still be a helpful player. The Wizards offer that and are clinging to the last spot in the East's play-in tournament.

They can justify a Westbrook-led push even more than the Bulls.

---

Statistics via Cleaning the Glass, NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.