Scott Brooks and Russell Westbrook are now reunited in Washington, giving the former a good excuse to tell a funny old story about the latter.
Brooks, the Wizards head coach, shared a tale Saturday about Westbrook’s frugality from their previous days together on the Oklahoma City Thunder, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. Brooks said that Westbrook once flew from OKC to Los Angeles sitting in coach. Westbrook told Brooks, who was sitting in first class on the flight, that he was not paying an extra $300 for first class when he would get to LA in the same amount of time sitting in coach.
Brooks coached the former MVP Westbrook on the Thunder for a total of seven seasons from Westbrook’s rookie year in 2008-09 until 2014-15. Westbrook developed into one of the league’s best point guards under Brooks, and the team made the NBA Finals in 2012.
Now that Brooks will coach Westbrook again on the Wizards, it is unclear if Westbrook’s spending habits have changed. After all, Westbrook has now made over $200 million in career salary and is owed an additional $132.5 million in just the next three seasons. Regardless, the Brodie is not the only NBA superstar known for being rather thrifty.
