Russell Westbrook, Kings Reportedly Have 'Strong' Mutual Interest in NBA FA Contract

Free agent guard Russell Westbrook and the Sacramento Kings reportedly have "strong mutual interest" toward getting a deal done, per ESPN's Shams Charania on Friday's edition of NBA Today.

"There is strong mutual interest between Russell Westbrook and the Sacramento Kings," Charania began.

"And the Kings have a need for a reserve point guard. They were 29th in bench points, 29th in bench assists last season. Russell Westbrook helps with that, and he's got relationships across that organization. Domantas Sabonis, he's close with, played with him. He played with Dennis Schröder as well. DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, they have L.A. ties as well.

"B.J. Armstrong, the new assistant general manager there, he knows B.J. Armstrong from the agency side, and he does have respect with Scott Perry, their new general manager, and Doug Christie, their new head coach. We'll see if a deal gets done before the start of the season or during this upcoming year."

Westbrook, who turns 37 years old on Nov. 12, is a nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA player and two-time scoring champion who landed on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team. He averaged a triple-double in four of his 17 NBA seasons, including 2016-17, when he won the NBA MVP award while leading the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Westbrook is no longer a triple-double machine, but he's certainly remained productive in the league. Last year, Westbrook started 36 of 75 games for a 50-win Nuggets team that made the Western Conference semifinals, where they pushed the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder to the seven-game limit. He averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per contest.

Still, Westbrook has remained without a new NBA home after hitting free agency. He can certainly help a team, and the Kings appears to be the frontrunners right now after Charania's report.

Last year's Kings team went 40-42 and finished ninth in the Western Conference. Sacramento fell in its first play-in tournament game to the Dallas Mavericks, 120-106.

There's certainly talent in town to vault the Kings to a playoff spot next year, with the trio of Sabonis, DeRozan and LaVine leading the way. However, Sacramento needs more help off the bench, and that's where Westbrook can fit in. He can fill the same type of role that he did in Denver as an energetic and productive force to lead the second unit. The Kings already have a great bench player in guard Malik Monk, but Westbrook can further bolster the reserves and provide great depth in Sacramento.

We'll see if this works out before the season soon enough, with the Kings getting ready for their opener on Oct. 22 at the Phoenix Suns.