Nic Batum Has Shocking Answer For Best Teammate of His Career

Nic Batum has had three significant stints on three different teams throughout his NBA career. He started his career in Portland, playing alongside players like Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Then he had a few years with the struggling Charlotte Hornets, putting in years next to Kemba Walker. Finally, he’s been a Clipper, sharing the court with multiple future Hall of Famers, including Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. 

But who has been Batum’s favorite teammate? He’s had over five seasons with three different teams, so it would make sense that one of his longer tenured teammates would make his top favorite teammates list. 

Batum was recently asked about playing with one of his more controversial teammates, and he had a shocking response. 

"The guy like that is Westbrook. Maybe one of the best, if not the best teammate I ever had in my career. I played two years with him, but yeah... when you play against him, I mean, he won’t be your friend. He doesn’t want to be your friend. But as a teammate, he’s the best. The best... One thing when you step on the court with him, he’s going to play 100,000% every single night. When you play against someone, you don’t pay attention about it, but when you play with him... I mean, that’s great actually to have like one of your teammate vets, leader, MVP, whatever stage of his career he is."

The post-OKC part of Westbrook’s career hasn’t been awesome. He’s still put up great statistics, but he hasn’t been able to find a second home in the NBA. No team has kept him around for more than two seasons. 

Despite the franchises not appreciating Westbrook’s presence, his teammates usually have rave reviews. This is another example of Westbrook’s teammates backing him up even when the team didn’t.