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New Los Angeles Lakers signing Russell Westbrook is one of the premier point guards of the last decade. But, though the Oklahoma Thunder legend has an MVP award to his name (2016-17), and despite the fact he is a 9x NBA All-Star, that hasn’t deterred oddsmakers at some of basketball’s leading sportsbooks predicting a downturn in Westbrook’s form once he gets busy in the city of angels.
Throughout a storied career, Westbrook has maintained a PPG average of 23.2, including a career-best 36.4 while playing for Oklahoma in 2017. Even into his early 30s whilst operating for Washington Wizards last season in what – for Westbrook – was probably a not-so-good year, the UCLA graduate still posted 22.2 points per game, shooting with 43.9% accuracy – the guy always turns up.
Interesting then that the oddsmakers over at BetUS are running this special (seen below) on Westbrook’s first season as a Laker.
The BetUS oddsmakers clearly feel that Westrook’s output is likely to dip – this could be as a direct result of ‘Beastbrook’ having to share the limelight with another free-scoring Laker going by the name of LeBron James (not to mention Anthony Davis!), or it might be because, at 32 years of age, there’s a suspicion that perhaps L.A.’s new point guard is on the slide. Who knows? But this Over/Under 21.5 PPG market on Westbrook is certainly intriguing to us at Basketball Insiders.
Westbrook hasn’t finished up an NBA season with less than 21.5 PPG since his sophomore campaign with the Thunder back in 2009!
Westbrook Over/Under 8.5 RPG market deserves your attention
It doesn’t end there though! BetUS also has an NBA specials market open for Beastbrook on RPG.
Westbrook might not have started out his pro basketball career as a consistent rebounder, but it is a skill that he’s improved upon almost every year since he began playing. In fact, the Russell Westbrook stats for rebounds have gone up incrementally, especially since 2015 when his average jumped up from about 7 – 10 RPG, where it has remained (other than one below-par year) ever since.
So, this betting special for Westbrook’s RPG also did the office rounds last week: BetUS is offering decent odds of -115 for Beastbrook to go Over/Under 8.5 RPG in the 2021-22 NBA season (see below)
Again, Westbrook’s recent stats suggest the oddsmakers are low-balling him here: he has finished up 10+ rebounds per game in four of the last five campaigns. Plus, last season Westbrook posted his best-ever RPG totals, averaging 11.5 and leading the Wizards in the metric. The stats suggest he’s getting better in this area, not worse!
In L.A. Westbrook would primarily be vying for rebounds with Andre Drummond, who is good at the rim, averaging 10.2 RPG. But, on recent form, Westbrook is better still – don’t be surprised to see him come up trumps in this facet come next season.
So, there you have it. Oddsmakers certainly have Russel Westbrook pinned for a slight downturn in form alongside LeBron in the prestige yellow of the L.A. Lakers.
But, we at Basketball Insiders will be backing the 9x All-Star to the hills – we are taking Over on both those lines! What do you think, though?
Head over to BetUS to cast your opinions on the Russel Westbrook NBA betting specials, and be sure to grab yourself a deal en route using one of the many lucrative BetUS bonus codes on offer.