30 Days, 30 Teams·King: Westbrook, 18 years

After signing Westbrook, the Sacramento Bulls, no, the Kings - I looked again, with DeRozan and LaVine here, are they really not the Bulls? ——The next season will probably start like this:

Schroeder/Westbrook/Monk/Carter

LaVine/Ellis/

DeRozan/Clifford/McKarry

Keegan Murray, the only decent defender on the team, needs surgery. Will Saric start? Or just go to DeRozan 4? /Jones

Sarizo/Eupbanks

After playing for seven teams in four years, Schroder has to serve as the starting point guard of a team again - he started 15 of the 74 playoff games in his career. The good news is: at the European Championships in the summer, he and Germany once again dominated Europe.

In 2017, the Kings selected Fox; the following year, because of Fox, they did not select Luka and Young, but chose forward Bagley; in 2020, they selected Haliburton in exchange for Sasha; in 2023, Fox + Sasha led the team to play the league's first offense, and lost to the defending champion Warriors in seven games in the first round; a year and a half later, they fired the meritorious coach Mike Brown - who had just been taken away by the New York Knicks - and traded Fox in 2025. They sent Haliburton away to play in the Finals.

"A team that drafted Fox and Haliburton, and had the opportunity to draft Luka and Young but missed it, now relies on Schroeder to be the starting point guard."

Oh, by the way: Six years ago, Schroeder was Westbrook's backup in the Thunder. Now, it's the other way around.

Looking on the bright side, maybe the Kings don't need a point guard.

After all, DeRozan—playing for his third different team in seven seasons—remains stable, meticulously imitating Kobe. One of the league's most outstanding midfielders, one of the league's top key men, with a style that is out of the game, elegant, steady, calm, firing, and then turning around calmly (blowing away the smoke from the gun), steadily averaging 22 points and 4 assists per game every season.

Of course, it will be difficult for him to win a championship with his style of play. The 20 points he scored day after day has also made everyone forget about it. It is probably difficult for him to become an All-Star.

But let’s put it this way:

DeRozan’s current regular season scoring is probably that of Middleton and Embiid combined.

He will become the Joe Johnson of this generation - single Joe, Mr. Key, classic, starting from the 2nd position to guesting at the 4th position, but without Joe's three-pointers - remain in our memory.

On the other side, in the corner that no one pays attention to, LaVine completed his second 50%+40%+80% season last season.

He is one of the best regular season strong pitchers in the league. He is becoming more and more like Carter who left Kidd: he takes the ball and gives you a guaranteed 20 points per game. When he is happy, he can tell everyone: he was and may still be the best dunker on the planet.

But he is the same as DeRozan: he does a good job on his own (offensive end), but it is difficult to change the overall situation. Can

change the overall situation? Xiaosa.

Although he may not be defeated by Jokic in the "Who is more like the old Sabonis" imitation contest, he is still one of the best instigators in the league. In 2023, he determines the King's lower limit, and Fox is the King's upper limit. Last season he won the rebounding title for the third consecutive season. His three-point shooting has improved and he has worked hard on the defensive end. But maybe he has reached his limit: his hard work and intelligence cannot cover up his height, wingspan and lateral movement.

Sasquatch said that a lot has happened in the summer, the team has changed, coach Christie is thinking about the new system, and he hopes that good things will happen. But the fact is that the Kings' starting defense and bench offense are still the same. Ellis and Murray, DeRozan + LaVine, these two groups seem to have a strange sense of separation-Murray still needs surgery.

In fact, Sasha's team building method is obvious: pair him with a long rim protector to make up for his defense, give him a group of smart and fast forwards to instigate passes, and then everything will work naturally - but the Kings don't seem to think so: now Sasha is surrounded by two scorers from the Bulls.

So, let's see:

Next season, will the Kings completely build a team with Sasha as the core, or trade him away, and who will be paired with DeRozan + LaVine? have no idea.

After all, this is a team that will draft Fox and Haliburton and then send them away, and give up Luka and Young for Bagley.

Maybe the Kings will trade Sasha for Vucevic, reunite DeRozan + LaVine + Vucevic, and make the team truly become the Sacramento Bulls?

Westbrook signs the King, and there is a high probability that he will be Schroeder's substitute - six years ago, in the Thunder, Schroeder was his substitute. Fate turns around.

With Westbrook + Samantha + DeRozan, there will be a big space problem, but the King's configuration is not scientific at all. Just hit it first and take it wherever you hit it.

Westbrook still plays counterattack and passing, maybe? Keegan Murray is going to have surgery, and neither LaVine nor DeRozan is good at rebounding: The team needs rebounds, too.

The duo of Westbrook + Jokic played smoothly last season: Westbrook gave Jokic 146 assists throughout the year, which was the fifth-highest level in the league. Half of the assists Westbrook received throughout the year came from Jokic - will this be beneficial to the operation of Westbrook + Savoy?

In short, Westbrook is about to start his 18th season - as of last season, they still had six players from the 2008 class: Westbrook, Lollef, Gordon Batum, and Jordan. The class of 2008 is turning around and leaving, but he is still here.

Although there are always people who don't like Westbrook saying that "Westbrook can't survive in the league," Westbrook, who is about to start his 18th season, has played 1,237 games in his career, ranking third in active duty and tenth among point guards in history.