RUSSELL WESTBROOK IS a game-changer but will he fit for the Lakers I think so. He has a lot to prove. He tried to stay in OKC and win with Durant, who left for Golden State to win championships and then left Golden State for Brooklyn so here we go.

So in the summer of 2019, while the rest of the NBA world fretted over who the reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard would choose between the Toronto Raptors and his hometown Los Angeles Lakers or LA Clippers, Westbrook was coming up with a plan to collaborate with him on a homecoming.

Westbrook had become a father of three the previous November, and while he’d made a home and carved a Hall of Fame legacy in Oklahoma City, the chance to live and play in Los Angeles, where grandparents and his large extended family and friends could visit every day, held deep appeal.

Teaming up with Leonard would be the fastest way there, so he placed the call, according to multiple sources. But Leonard didn’t just take the call as one native son of Los Angeles to another, ponder it and file it away.

He used it.

According to multiple sources, Leonard then called Westbrook’s teammate in Oklahoma City, Paul George, and told him he’d rather team up with him on a homecoming.

George had always longed to play in front of his family as well but had formed a close bond with Westbrook in their two seasons together in Oklahoma City and was content to stay.

Leonard’s call upended all of that, though. And within a week, Leonard was teaming up with George — not Westbrook — for their hometown LA Clippers.

While Westbrook began a journey that would take him to three new teams over the next two seasons, each time moving farther from both the NBA championship he’d been chasing his whole career — and his hometown of Los Angeles. But he never gave up hope of fulfilling those goals.

His longtime agent Thad Foucher helped guide him through each of those massive trades, which seemed independent of each other until you consider the previously unknown prologue between Leonard and Westbrook, which began the entire chain of events and now looms as a delicious subplot to all future Lakers-Clippers games.

Westbrook’s homecoming trade to the Lakers on Thursday evening wasn’t two weeks in the making. It was two years in the making.

ROB PELINKA Made some changes to maximize Lebron at the Lakers

First, and most importantly, was a potential trade for Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield that the two teams had worked on for weeks. The conversations had been serious, but theoretical as the Lakers waited for word from forward Montrezl Harrell — who would have to be included in the deal to offset Hield’s $22.5 million salaries — on whether he was picking up his $9.7 million player option for this season.

Then there was the NBA draft, beginning at 5 p.m. local time, in which the Lakers held the No. 22 overall picks.

The Hield trade was appealing on many levels — his youth, shooting ability, and star potential among them — and felt like a good way to reinvent the team after a disappointing, injury-plagued 2020-21 season. If Harrell picked up his player option, sources said the Lakers intended to move forward with the deal. But Harrell had until Sunday to make his decision, and the trade needed to be made before the draft because the No. 22 pick was a potential asset. There was no certainty he would do so in time.

Then, midway through the morning of draft day, Pelinka received a surprising call. It was from Washington Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard — he wanted to discuss a Russell Westbrook trade.

There had been informal conversations between the teams about such a deal previously, but ultimately the Wizards had preferred to give the pairing of Westbrook and Bradley Beal another season to work after 2020-21 was set back by a COVID-19 outbreak within the team in January.

 Sources indicate Westbrook and Foucher called the Wizards to say that he was happy to play in Washington another two seasons, but if there was a trade with the Lakers that made sense for both franchises, he would welcome the chance to compete for a championship in his hometown.

Westbrook had been in close communication with Beal since the season ended, as both weighed their basketball futures in D.C., sources said. They’d enjoyed playing together last season and felt some optimism that a second would be more successful than their opening-round playoff exit. But both also had concerns about the ability of the team, as currently constructed, to compete at the highest level.

There was a key difference in their situations: Beal was 28, squarely in his prime, and loyal to the franchise that had drafted him third overall in 2012. Westbrook was 32, with likely just a few more seasons to win at the highest level. Westbrook had also been left behind by another co-star: Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. Last year in Houston, when James Harden started expressing doubts about his future with the franchise, Westbrook decided not to sit back and get left behind again, as Foucher and the Rockets worked together to create the trade with Washington.

At each stop, Westbrook had left on great terms with his previous franchises putting out press releases thanking him and Foucher for his contributions and professionalism.

Westbrook wanted to give Beal as much consideration as possible, talking throughout the offseason as they both mulled their futures with the team, sources said. But when reports about the Lakers’ interest in Hield heated up, sources said Westbrook decided it was best to raise the possibility of a trade to the Wizards front office.

Westbrook knew two things: If the Lakers traded for Hield, they wouldn’t have the assets to trade for him. And the draft was another time constraint: The No. 22 picks could also be a key asset in a potential trade that would net Washington the most return. Westbrook, it was too big of a moment to let pass. This might be his last, best chance to play in his hometown and compete for a championship. He couldn’t take a chance on getting left behind if Beal later asked to move on from Washington, and he knew this was likely the best return the Wizards would be able to get for him.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK had been talking to Lakers star LeBron James about the possibility of playing together, sources said. They’d talk about working out together and how they’d push each other in the gym and on the court. Both are known around the NBA as insatiable workout guys who pride themselves on the condition they keep their bodies, and how early they get to the gym.

There’s an oft-told story about Westbrook and Durant in their early years together in Oklahoma City when they’d try to beat each other into the facility each morning, ultimately arriving well before dawn. The team finally had to tell each of them to show up at the same time, so the staffers didn’t have to get there to meet them.

James, of course, often posts his early morning workouts on his social media with a timestamp.

Competitively, Westbrook and James seem like a great match: Two alphas who thrive off the structure, hard work, and discipline.

Stylistically though, they had to meet to talk through how that might work. So James invited Westbrook and Anthony Davis over to his house in Brentwood for a meeting of the minds.

James had played and won championships with aggressive playmakers before. In Miami, it took a season and a half to work through how to mesh his game with Dwyane Wade. But ultimately they sorted through it and won two titles together. That experience helped him in Cleveland when he had to solve how to play with Kyrie Irving.

Westbrook can command the focus of opposing defenses like those players, but he has key differences. His 43.7% career shooting is worse than both Wade (48%) and Irving (47%). He also averages more turnovers (4.1) than Wade (3.2) and Irving (2.6). But of course, Westbrook is an incredible rebounder (7.4) and assist generator (8.5), and has averaged a triple-double four times in the past five seasons.

For the Lakers, the stylistic concerns were allayed — at least for the moment — when James and Davis blessed the move.

In their end-of-season evaluations, sources said the Lakers concluded the one thing they’d truly missed from their championship run in 2020 was a secondary playmaker to James.

Rajon Rondo had elevated his game in the playoffs and provided that skill in several key games in 2020. They’d hoped Dennis Schroder could do the same, especially if there was an injury to James or Davis. But he struggled in the playoffs, and glaringly so after Davis’ groin injury. So the team’s primary focus in the offseason was to add an elite playmaker, sources said.

Free-agent point guard Kyle Lowry was a strong consideration, just as he had been at the trade deadline, sources said. So was Chris Paul.

But free agency is always a risk, as other teams could make bigger, better offers than L.A. and backup options could vanish quickly as top-tier players weighed their options. The Lakers had experienced that two summers earlier, waiting for Leonard to make his free-agent decision. L.A. would also likely be hard-capped if it acquired a player via sign-and-trade.

The preferred option was to trade for an elite playmaker before free agency, the proverbial bird in the hand.

Free agency was also potentially a lot costlier and more restrictive, as they’d first have to keep their own free agents, Schroder, Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker. Sources indicate Schroder is looking for a contract north of $20 million per season, Caruso is expected to field multiple offers at or above the full mid-level exception of $9.5 million per season, as could Horton-Tucker, a restricted free agent.

Keeping all three of their own free agents, and trading for someone like Hield would’ve pushed the Lakers luxury tax bill well over $100 million — an NBA record.

For Washington, the choice was even simpler. Keeping Beal happy and with the franchise is the top priority. He seems to be looking for reasons to stay, so the best way to do that is to build out a team around him that has the best chance to win. One season of Beal and Westbrook had netted a ninth-place finish and first-round playoff exit.

The return Washington got for Westbrook — Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Harrell, and the No. 22 picks in the draft, which was later flipped to Indiana for Aaron Holiday and the No. 31 picks — gives them three solid rotation players and the financial flexibility to make more moves in the future.

It was not a scenario either franchise envisioned heading into Thursday morning. But things evolve rapidly in the NBA and sometimes bold choices have to be made quickly.

Westbrook has never been afraid to seize moments like these. To attack them like he attacks the rim.

He’s had the will to play in his hometown for two years now. His first attempt backfired. But this time, he found a way there.