LeBron James raves about being Russell Westbrook’s Lakers teammate, and there’s 1 thing he wants everybody to talk about more

NBA legend Russell Westbrook has been getting his flowers since his retirement. The former MVP announced his retirement from the NBA in August and the Oklahoma City Thunder announced that they'd be retiring his jersey in February 2027.

LeBron James on the retirement of Russell Westbrook:

“I think one of the things about Russ that doesn’t get talked about is like the guy never wanted to take a night off. Wanted to play in every single game. Being a teammate of his for that year or two, I think it was a year and… https://t.co/mdSFIOZM8k pic.twitter.com/bJncXaifke

— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) November 3, 2026

Westbrook spoke about the honor of having his jersey retired, saying, “It’s amazing; it’s a true blessing, Quite frankly, it's not just for me, my family — my kids, wife, my mom, my brother-in-law, the entire city. Being able to grow up not even imagining you'd be able to be a professional athlete, needless to say, be in the NBA. But to be able to get your jersey retired, it creates a legacy; it creates a sense of all the work, time, effort, and energy you put into the game. I'm just truly grateful for that honor. I look forward to that night.”

On the latest edition of the Mind The Game podcast, LeBron James weighed in on Westbrook's retirement and the one thing that he wants people to keep in mind about how Westbrook approached the game of basketball.

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“I think one of the things about Russ that doesn’t get talked about is like the guy never wanted to take a night off. Wanted to play in every single game. Being a teammate of his for that year or two, I think it was a year and a half, maybe two years in LA. He never wanted to take a game off. Never wanted to take a practice off. Great dude. You can never, it’s not going to be one person that played with him in the locker room and he like, man, he wasn’t a good teammate like, everyone raves about him, including myself. Kudos to him and that jacket, that Hall of Fame jacket is next.”

James and Westbrook played together on the Los Angeles Lakers from 2021 to 2023. They also faced off as competitors in the 2012 NBA Finals, with the Heat winning the series in five and earning James his first NBA Championship.