-Russell Westbrook, welcome to
"Tonight Show: At Home Edition."
Thank you for doing this.
-Thank you for having me, man. I appreciate it.
I'm excited to be on, so thanks for having me.
-You know, I'm a big fan of you.
You've been on our show a bunch of times.
How is everything going?
You have three under 3, don't you?
-Three under 3, it's going great.
You know what? It's going good, actually.
It's going great. -Really? You mean that?
-Yeah, I actually -- you know what?
I actually get a chance to see my kids wake up every morning,
which is something that I don't get a chance to do often.
So I'm very excited about that.
-Oh, yeah. -Happy to be home.
So that's good.
-So you get to play with them.
Are you playing -- what do you do under 3?
I forget.
-Well, right now, we're in the jealousy game --
we call it the jealousy game.
One kid comes, the other one comes right along,
the other comes around behind. -[ Laughs ]
-So that's the game.
That's the game we're playing right now.
-One is jealous of the other one.
Absolutely, yeah. -They just follow --
follow whoever does something and then all three
of them have to do it, but it's good though.
-You're not playing any video games, are you?
-You know, I don't have time. I don't have time.
I haven't even got to the videos games yet.
I've been so busy trying to do other things around the house.
-Yeah, exactly. -Just playing with the kids,
working out, you know, the norm.
-Are you working out?
Are you still in good basketball shape?
-I would say so. I would say so.
-Yeah. You're Russell Westbrook, yeah.
But I mean like, if there was --
you know, there's rumors that, you know,
they could bring the NBA back in the summer
and go right to playoffs. Would you be ready?
-I'm always ready, Jimmy. I'm always ready.
I'm always ready. Baby, I'm always ready.
-You really are.
Are you watching "The Last Dance?"
The Bulls documentary?
-Man, you know what?
Yes, I watched the first two episodes last Sunday.
Such great insight, you know,
it's such a great start to a great documentary.
I'm excited to see what next week brings.
-I know. I watched --
I think it was the biggest thing on ESPN ever,
I want to say as far as documentaries-wise.
But everyone was talking about it, and it's real inside.
It's pretty like -- -Yeah.
You know what? It's crazy, Jimmy.
When I was watching it, I was like wondering, like,
who was filming --
who was filming this back in the day?
Like, they got MJ riding a bike on college.
I'm like, "Who's filming this? How did they get this footage?"
It's crazy. -It's so wild to see
those old, you know, photos even of Jordan
with the gold chains and -- -Yes.
Double -- double gold chains, yes. Yes.
-I mean, I was like, "Oh, my gosh."
I mean, do you have any Jordan stories?
-You know what? I do. I have a very interesting one.
So, the first time I had an opportunity to meet
Michael Jordan, I kind of, like --
So I probably was about, Jimmy,
I would say 10 or 11, maybe.
I went to Michael Jordan Camp.
So, my parents took me to Michael Jordan Camp
in Santa Barbara.
At the end of Michael Jordan Camps,
usually every kid, every team,
you need to bring something for Michael Jordan could sign.
You need to stand in line. You need to be ready to go.
So when it was my team, my team was up
to get a basketball to sign.
My parents gave me a basketball to get signed.
I don't know why -- what I was thinking,
but when it was my team, my time to go,
I was in the middle of a game.
So I was already playing. I was playing pick-up
with other kids -- playing pick-up with other kids.
And then my coach was like, "Come on, come on, come on."
You know, "You're gonna miss
the opportunity to get a picture with Michael Jordan
and an autograph from Michael Jordan."
Myself said, "Aww, don't worry. I'm okay.
I don't need it right now."
So I didn't get a picture with Michael Jordan.
I didn't get an autograph with Michael Jordan.
I literally didn't get in line.
I kept playing basketball.
I just kept hooping, just kept hooping.
Then when it was over, camp was over.
When I got home, my mom and dad was like,
"Where's -- did you get the ball signed?"
And I literally was just like, "No, I didn't.
I was playing -- I was playing a pick-up game."
-Oh, my gosh.
And your parents probably thought that was their
retirement plan. -Listen, listen.
At the time, it didn't click to me.
So, that's my intro to my Michael Jordan story.
-Did you cry? Did you freak out?
Or you didn't care? -I did.
I was -- I definitely cared.
I wasn't thinking at the time.
I was just a little kid having so much fun.
It was like, "You know, it's time get your thing signed
by Michael Jordan." I was like, "Ah,
okay, I can do it later." Never did.
-Never did. Well, I mean, you got a chance to see him
years later on.
-Yes, now I have a legitimate chance,
and I can tell him the same story.
So it's good now.
-Aren't you on Team Jordan as far as Nike?
-Yes, yes. -You are.
I heard a rumor that you have, like, a thousand pairs
of shoes in your house.
-Yeah, I would say, right now, Jimmy, somewhere around there.
I would have been in my closet to do this,
but my service is bad in there to show you around.
-Oh, my gosh. Service is bad everywhere.
I'm just happy to even have a conversation with you.
-But you know what, Jimmy? I'll say I have close to that.
-Do you have a lucky pair that you always go like,
"Oh, that was my -- that means a lot to me, that pair"?
-I would say my first
Westbrook Zer0.1 when I first had an opportunity
to get my own shoe, I would say that's very special to me
because growing up I never even thought or imagined
I would have my own basketball shoe,
and being under Michael Jordan number one is --
was a blessing for me.
So I just always make sure that's
always a keeper for me in my closet.
-Wow, that's pretty awesome.
I remember my favorite pair of sneakers I ever had
was the Jordans with the patent leather.
-Uh-huh.
-'Cause I would wear them on stage,
and I thought like that my special,
almost like I treated them like shoes, like they were by far
the most expensive things I ever had in my life.
But I used to clean them and put them back in the box
and worship them and then put them back on.
I'd feel like I was magic when I put them on.
That's great. -Absolutely.
-But it's fun. Hey, you know, every time
we have anyone come on our show, and I'm very grateful
that you came on -- thank you --
I ask people if they can highlight a charity or two
that they are working with.
You have two.
The first one is Comp-U-Dopt. -Uh-huh.
-So it's like "adopt" but computer adoption.
What is Comp-U-Dopt?
-Yeah, we partnered with a company, Comp-U-Dopt,
to get a chance to obviously help with education
in times like this.
Find ways to be able to help kids
educate themselves from home.
And obviously, a lot of people,
some of their kids can't afford computers,
can't afford to have some of those things at home.
So I thought it was a great idea to be able to partner
with Comp-U-Dopt and be able to provide,
you know, over 600-plus computers for the kids
in the inner city of Houston.
So I was thought it was an amazing idea to be able
to have them continue their education
because I truly believe education is
a very big problem in today's society.
-Absolutely.
The other charity is the Angeleno Campaign.
-Yeah, the Angeleno Campaign came about
with the mayor.
We're pretty close and had a conversation before,
you know, COVID-19 started,
and once it hit very, very hard here
in the inner city of Los Angeles,
something that I'm very, very passionate about,
I wanted to find a way to be able to help,
whether it's small businesses
or families, fund their household.
And we came up -- and the mayor came up
with Angeleno Campaign, and I was very, very excited
to be a part of it,
to be able to give people instant cash, instant way
to be able to get groceries to take care of their home,
to be able to pay their rent, whatever it is.
And it's something that has been working in good favor.
So I'm happy to be a part of that.
-If you can give even a dollar, you guys, it goes so far.
Any donation helps.
So please, thank you much for doing that.
Russell, you're the best.
I can't wait to see you in person and, you know,
we'll -- maybe I'll see you in the playoffs.
I have no idea. -Man, I hope so too, Jimmy.
So, I thank you for having me again on this show.
Always a pleasure. -Best to the family, buddy.
-Thank you, man. Appreciate it. -Thank you.