Lakers News: Russell Westbrook Says Who His Favorite Laker Was and It's A Surprise

Russ-Russ was a fan of that boom-boom Pau

At this point, Laker fans are keenly aware that Russell Westbrook grew up a Lakers fan. Westbrook is a Long Beach-born kid, and he attended Leuzinger High School in Lawndale before attending UCLA. Westbrook was an LA kid, through and through.

Naturally, a type of player with an assassin's mentality who attacks the rim with ferocity, one would assume he was a die-hard fan of Kobe Bryant. While Bryant was certainly a player Westbrook admired, he admitted his favorite player was not actually Bryant.

“I’ll tell y’all an interesting fact that nobody knows about me. Pau was actually my favorite player growing up before Kobe because I just liked how he played the game. I feel like he played the game the right way. He could pass it. He could shoot it, score it. To me, I just liked the way he played the game at his size.”

In the same week that Laker great Gasol announced his retirement, it is nice to see an active player say that they admired his game. Gasol was lethal in the post because he could go one-on-one against anyone, but he also had eyes in the back of his head and could pass the ball better than almost any big man in the league.

Westbrook did get to go head-to-head against Gasol a few times. Worth noting that one of Gasol's biggest career moments was a last-second shot that eliminated Westbrook's Oklahoma City Thunder in 2010. 

Really great to see a current Laker remember the greatness of Gasol.