Russell Westbrook,
welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Thank you, man. Thanks for having me.
-I appreciate it. -Oh, man. I appreciate it, man.
You-you are, uh, easily one of the most electric
NBA players of all time.
You're on a new team now and you're living in a new city.
I would love to know two things.
One, what is it like moving to a new city during COVID?
And, two, do you ever get used to living in new places?
Well, you know, the first thing is
moving during COVID has been crazy.
Um, unfortunately, you know,
I would probably say my wife probably had to take more
of the responsibility of getting the kids
and getting everything acclimated,
finding a new place to stay,
uh, making sure, obviously, we're traveling safely
and making sure we're doing all the right things and...
-Right. -It can be a little-- it can be a little crazy.
'Cause the kids don't make it easy,
-sleep schedule and getting everything... -(laughing)
That-that is the main-- That's my main concern,
is making sure three kids and the family are-are doing great,
and that's the most difficult part.
I can kind of manage and figure it out.
But it's the kids that's the most important part.
And, for you, do you ever get used
to just living in a new city?
You know what, I-- it's crazy,
'cause the last three, two years for me
has been very different in the past.
I was in Oklahoma for... 11 years,
um, 11 years. Then-then I went to Houston for a year.
And then COVID hit and I went back to L.A.
and then got traded to D.C.
And, um, it's been very different for me,
um, in the past, different for kind of everybody around me.
'Cause everybody that knows me knows I'm very...
a routine type of person and kind of wants to be...
(snapping) in the same place all the time.
And, uh, it's been-been difficult for me, uh, at times,
but I’m happy that I got my family here.
It makes it easy for me to transition easy,
and the team and the organization has been amazing
and the people have been great, so... D.C...
Oh, that's dope, that's dope, that's dope.
Let's talk a little bit about that routine.
The routine before you play a game
is one of the most interesting parts of-of your life for me,
and that is what Russell Westbrook is gonna wear
before a game.
You are literally a walking fashion ramp.
It's like Paris Fashion Week all the time.
Who is dressing you
and how do you stay ahead of the trends the way you do?
Because, like, it's never, like, boring.
It's never like, "Meh, Russell Westbrook."
It's like, "No, no, no, he's always ahead of the curve."
Well, you know, I’m dressing myself, number one.
Trevor, I think that's the--
To me, that's the most unique thing about it,
is that I wake up, and I just go for what I feel.
Fashion is something that I, you know, personally love to do,
and embrace the... the ability to be able to be...
express myself through clothes.
-I think that's the best part of fashion. -Right, right, right.
I wake up, I can be like, "Oh, I want to be..."
I want to wear yellow, or I want to wear pink,
or I want to wear green, I want to wear baggy clothes.
I want to wear a suit.
That's the best part about it, and I just go with it.
I think that's part of what makes Russell Westbrook
such an interesting character is that, like...
You now, for so many athletes,
we only know them in the sport.
And so, what I... what I've always enjoyed
about getting to know you as a person,
is, like, through the things that you do.
Whether it's the love of fashion,
whether it's the love of your community.
Like, you talked about Oklahoma, for instance.
11 years in Oklahoma. And what I appreciated was,
you loved Oklahoma, Oklahoma loved you.
You know, you learned about the city,
you ingratiated yourself to the people.
And now you've taken that a step further,
and you're gonna be creating a film about the story
of what happened in Tulsa, the burning of Tulsa.
Talk me through a little bit about that and then why you felt
it was so important for you
to get involved in telling that story.
Yeah, man, it's crazy, because,
uh, being in Oklahoma, like you mentioned, for 11 years,
so I was able to kind of connect with the people,
and obviously connect with the history of the community.
And to me, that's the most important part.
And, um, being able to travel to Tulsa,
kind of up and back, through my years there.
And, um, I didn't know anything about the Tulsa massacre,
Black Wall Street, um, until a got there.
-Right. -And then once I heard about it,
um, I was in shock, because I was surprised
that nobody, especially our African-American communities,
our people that have Black-owned businesses, don't understand
and didn't understand the impact that the massacre had
on the world and how it can,
you know, change our future, um, and instantly.
Um, you know, I was lucky enough
to be able connect with Stanley, um, and be able to create,
and obviously now with History,
create this docu-series to be able to...
not just to show everybody what happened,
but educate ourselves to be able to now, in the future,
find ways to be able to help impact our community
and especially our Black-owned businesses
and kind of uplift them.
You've definitely done that with your own foundation.
My favorite foundation name-- the Why Not? Foundation.
-I love it. -Yeah.
'Cause it's just about, "Why not, man? Let's do it."
It feels like Russell Westbrook. It's like, "Why not?
"Why can't we do it? Why can't we be better?
Why not do these things?"
You've always believed in going into communities,
finding youth that have been left behind,
finding youth that don't have opportunities, educating them.
And what you're doing now with the foundation is,
you're working really hard to get kids involved in tech
and computer literacy,
which is a slightly new direction for you.
Yeah, I think the biggest part,
especially with the foundation-- we kind of started in 2012--
and I wanted to start an education.
And making sure our youth was educated
and having books and resources.
And as I've gotten older, and been able
to kind of see what's important the way
that our world and our society is kind of moving,
I wanted to find ways to be able to, you know,
enhance the foundation and find different avenues.
And moving forward now,
we've been, like you mentioned, working in tech
and working in workforce development,
working on the mental health and mental wellness side, as well.
You know, the foundation is, to me, it's very, very important
because a lot of people can...
You know, you can write a check, you can do anything,
-and just go about your business, but... -Yeah.
If you're a kid from the inner city,
and you don't actually feel that impact or that inspiration,
it doesn't really change your life.
And I know that personally because I lived it.
And to me, I wanted to make sure that I can be the voice,
I can be the person that those kids,
our youth can look to and say,
"You know, he came back to our community.
"He helped us, he gave us access.
"He gave us the ability to be able to change our lives
and change the world we live in." So...
One of the saddest stories of professional sports,
sometimes even the entertainment industry,
so many Black people or even people from just, you know,
poorer communities, get a lot of money and a little bit of time.
And then, a few years after their career ends,
it's all gone, and they're broke,
and then the cycle continues.
And you're like, "Man, what happened?
There was an opportunity there that is lost."
Now that happens on a smaller level, as well,
just every day in communities, as...
You know, managing money, learning how to create money,
learning how to grow money is something
that not everybody is taught.
You're passionate about that,
and you're teaming up with Varo right now to work on that.
Just walk me through what you're gonna be doing
and why this was what you wanted to get into.
Yeah, man, honestly, you know, I'm so grateful for Varo,
because we've, as a team, internally,
been trying to figure out, you know, the right partners
to be able to get and understand financial literacy,
understand the financial gap in our society,
understanding the systemic financial inequality
that he we face, you know, today,
and especially in the finance world.
And Varo's been this unbelievable partner,
being the first all-digital bank with a national charter,
which is important because it allows them
to be able to help everybody,
-not just one particular area or people. -Right.
But it allows them to be able to help people about checking,
and give them about their savings,
and understand about credit card.
But educate them on exactly what is happening.
Because as we know, and as you mentioned,
our underserved communities
and our communities of color have struggled
with that over many, many years and have plagued us.
And to me, I want to make sure that I can be the person
to step into that space
and partner with an unbelievable partner like Varo,
that has the mission in mind
to help our underserved and help our unbanked communities.
And to me, I think it's an unbelievable opportunity,
and I'm very, very excited about it, so...
You know, it's funny. Um, I was chatting to a friend of mine
about all the things that you do.
You know, I was like, "Oh, yeah, yeah.
Russell Westbrook's gonna be on the show."
And he's like, "Oh, what is he coming on for?"
The boss is like, "No, he does all these things."
And my friend said the funniest thing ever. He was like, "Wow."
He's like, "I thought Russell Westbrook was asshole.
-He's a really dope guy." -Man. Oh, my goodness.
And I was just like, do you ever have that,
where people just see you on the court,
and you've got that game face, and they're like,
"Man, don't want to talk to Russell Westbrook"?
But you're, like, a soft guy who loves helping people.
-Do you ever get that? -Trevor, it's crazy you mention that.
I get that, um, every day. That's a...
Honestly, that's the biggest challenge of my life.
And you know, it's crazy.
It's honestly, the biggest challenge of my life, because
I play the game with so much passion and aggression.
I want to do great. I want to be the best at the game.
But at the same time, I want to be the best off the floor
and helping as many people as possible
-and being impactful. -Right, right, right.
I don't want to just talk about it and say, "Oh,"
doing this, doing that, but I want to be the one
-to change our world in many directions. -Right.
As we've talked about finances and education,
mental health, workforce development.
I want to put my hands in everything.
There's nothing that I feel like I can't do.
And that's where, obviously, the "Why Not?" mentality comes from,
but every day is a challenge, man, for me to be able
to change that... change the narrative.
But, like, listen, hey, guys, I'm a human being.
I'm normal. I want to help. I want to do the right thing.
And, you know, to me, my main job, Trevor, honestly,
is just to make sure that I stay humble and understanding
that I've been gifted with this platform,
to be able to give back to as many people as possible.
And I'm gonna find ways to be able to do that
with every avenue that I can.
As long as God has blessed me with this opportunity,
I'm gonna make sure that I continue to help
and impact as many people as possible.
That's why, my friend, you are an MVP
both on and off the court.
I appreciate you taking the time.
Russell Westbrook, take care of yourself, my friend.
Appreciate it, brother. Thank you.