With just a day before most NBA training camps are set to start, free agent future first-ballot Hall of Fame point guard Russell Westbrook remains stunningly unsigned.

The superstar-turned-role player enjoyed a solid bounceback season as a key reserve for the 50-32 Denver Nuggets, but after declining his player option and exploring free agency, has found himself a man without a team in a bit of a musical chairs free agency. He turns 37 in November, and understandably doesn’t have quite the same athleticism that defined him during his absolute prime.

Still, he’s a good passer, rebounder and scorer in the paint, and could provide value off the bench to a club looking to stay above water during the regular season. He’s finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting over the past two years, while with the L.A. Clippers and Denver.

More news: Lakers’ JJ Redick Reveals 2 Key Areas Where He’s Grown as Head Coach

Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr., who played alongside Westbrook in Denver last year, recently came to his former teammate’s defense, calling out fandoms of some of the squads where Westbrook struggled to find his post-prime playing footing. Infamously, Westbrook spent a year-and-a-half on some ill-fated Los Angeles Lakers clubs next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, from 2021-23.

During an appearance on “Respectfully The Justin Laboy Show Season,” Porter explained how he could appreciate Westbrook struggling to accept his transition from his nine-time All-Star prime to a reserve role during his past several journeyman seasons.

“I mean, so Russ, like here’s the thing. It would be hard for any player to go from being the MVP of the NBA to then taking on a role where you’re coming off the bench, but you still have, like I said, even me going from being the best player to then having some injuries and having to accept, like, okay, I need to figure out a role. That’s tough,” Porter said.

Westbrook had been honored as the league’s MVP in 2017, after he averaged a 31.6-point, 10.7-rebound, 10.4-assist triple-double while with the No. 6-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. Granted, the club’s heliocentric offense rose and fell with the 6-foot-4 UCLA product, to the point where the Thunder were handily dispatched in the first round of the playoffs that year by Westbrook’s former Oklahoma City teammate, James Harden, and his Houston Rockets in five quick games.

More news: JJ Redick Hasn’t Made Decision on Lakers’ Starting Lineup Yet

“So for Russ to go from MVP to then be told he’s going to play this type of role and to then, you know, go to these different teams and get disrespected by so many people. When he went to LA [Lakers], he was disrespected like crazy,” Porter said. “When he went to the Clippers, people hated on him like crazy. Meanwhile, he’s been the MVP of the NBA,”

A Long Beach native, Westbrook greenlit a trade from the Washington Wizards to the Lakers in the summer of 2021. That season ended disastrously, with the Lakers tumbling to a 33-49 record and missing the postseason entirely. LA seemed doomed for an encore the next year, but the team ultimately managed to trade Westbrook and two other past their prime point guards eating up minutes — Patrick Beverley (miscast as the team’s starting shooting guard) and Kendrick Nunn — and salvaged their season.

Westbrook next linked up with the Clippers, were he proved fairly competent in a reserve role — until an absolute stinker of a first-round playoff performance in 2024. He then signed a one-plus-one deal with Denver, but opted to test free agency this summer rather than pick up his guaranteed money for 2025-26. Oops.

“So, I feel like all those things weighed on Russ,” Porter said. “And when he came over with us, he came in with some great energy. Like, he really bought into the system. He was cheering people on. But it’s an 82-game season, so obviously there’s going to be highs and lows.”

Porter, who’s nearly 10 years Westbrook’s junior, indicated that he had grown up as a fan of Westbrook during his Thunder prime.

“I looked up to Russ in a lot of ways. When I was young, like Oklahoma City was the team I watched, KD and him. So it was dope getting to know Russ, and he’s a fierce competitor,” Porter said.

In 75 healthy bouts for Denver last year, Westbrook averaged 13.3 points on .449/.323/.661 shooting splits (although that 32.3 percent 3-point rate is a bit deceptive, he’s always left wide open treys), 6.1 assists and 4.9 boards a night.

“Like again, like you talk about greatness like Russ to this day, like he’s a little older now, like he can still move and stuff, but he’s a little older, but every day he’s in the gym getting shots up doing his thing,” Porter added.

For more news and notes on the Los Angeles Lakers, visit Los Angeles Lakers on SI.