Russell Westbrook, Nipsey Hussle Story Revealed by Ex-Thunder Teammate

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - APRIL 21: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrates after making a three point shot during a game against the Portland Trail Blazers during Round One Game Three of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 21, 2019 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

Russell Westbrook has the respect of many in the NBA and the entertainment world.

The NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2017, the eight-time NBA All Star was extremely close with late rapper, Nipsey Hussle.

Hussle, 33, died in April after being gunned down in front of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angeles.

During the NBA’s regular season, Westbrook tributed Hussle in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers by posting a triple-double.

For those tardy to the party: Westbrook had a 20 points, 20 rebounds and 21 assists in 37 minutes of action against Los Angeles.

In a recent interview on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Anthony Morrow shared with me that Westbrook introduced him to Nipsey and shared their connection.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Nipsey Hussle passed away recently.

Anthony Morrow: Rest in peace man, my guy.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: I looked at your social media, you knew him?

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Anthony Morrow: Yeah. We weren’t like super close but I met him one time. I met him through Russell Westbrook. Russ knew I really liked his music and what he stood for his messages. I’ve been listening to him since like 2010-11. Think he had the bullets ain’t got no name mixtape. But I really didn’t listen to him like that. It just sounded very west coast so I still was kind of it didn’t sound like Game. The rapper Game we was dope. I’m from the south, so when I heard him I was like I liked a couple songs but it was like super underground. 2013 I remember I was playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, and he had his mixtape Crenshaw. He was talking about he was promoting it like you got to pay $100 dollars for it. Everybody was like he ain’t even popping then Jay-Z ended up buying like a hundred copies. HOV he was like that’s what it’s about. You don’t have to pay for them you can get it free but if you rock with my movement then you’ll pay. Hundred dollars isn’t a lot to most people. A lot of people don’t understand but if you want something you got to have one hundred dollars in your pocket you going to get it. So that’s what he was trying to promote and I thought that was interesting. I started listening more closely to his music and then he came out with a marathon mixtape. I started listening to everything that started coming out. I really like fell in love with his music and his conceptions and how he was thinking about changing his community and his plan. Then I started watching his interviews I was like yeah he going to blow up. I met him he had a concert in Oklahoma City, met him through Russ and we had a real conversion. It wasn’t even that long maybe like ten minutes. But right after his show he came right back and was chopping it up with us after the show. Work hard and how grateful he was to be able to do that. Like on Instagram we’ll hit each other back on what I saw. If I saw what he was doing I’ll be like I appreciate that he’d see what I’m doing in my neighborhood. It’s a lot of the same stuff that we was doing. In terms of just having something in the neighborhood for the youth. Then through his music you feel like you know him, a lot of people just say they feel like they did. That’s a different type of impact to have as a artist everybody can’t do that. It was sad man. I’ve been listening to him the whole time, I’ve broke down a few times just remembering because of certain songs and versus’. You remember exactly where you were at. What it meant to you then and then what happened when you think that moment on top of that. Like you know it’s sad and unfortunate. God bless him his family wife and everybody kids.