Los Angeles Lakers: 3 bold predictions for Russell Westbrook

1. Russell Westbrook averages the fewest points per game since his second season

Russell Westbrook is coming into a situation in which he is the third-best player on the team. That has not been the case for Westbrook since the early OKC days with Kevin Durant and James Harden and even then, Harden was coming off the bench and Westbrook was viewed as the no. 2 option.

Westbrook has averaged over 20 points per game in every season since his third season. Ten consecutive seasons averaging over 20 points per game is no small feat and he is likely going to extend it to 11 seasons in 2020-21.

However, he is going to average the fewest points per game since that second season. I still expect him to surpass the 20 points per game mark, but it would be surprising if he averaged more than he did last season (22.2).

I would expect Westbrook to be somewhere around 20.5 points per game and it simply has to do with him being the third option. Anthony Davis is likely going to be the leading scorer on the team and while LeBron James is likely going to take a step back in scoring, he is still a lock to score 20 points per night.

I would guess that Davis averages around 27 points per game with LeBron and Westbrook combining for another 43 points per game, giving the Lakers’ trio an average of 70 points scored per regular season game.

That is pretty good, isn’t it? It might sound bad for Westbrook, but in fact, it is going to be a more valuable 20-21 points per game.