Russell Westbrook on Christian Braun's jersey number debate: Let him…we never discussed that

Ryan Blackburn of Mile High Sports asked Booth about his confidence in keeping Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the team's strong shooting starter, in an NBA free agency after the draft. Booth's response seems to strongly imply that he doesn't expect the two-time point guard to return (my emphasis): He mentioned the starting lineup, putting all those guys together, having an expensive starting lineup — talk about limitations. presented by the CBA really, did that change your opinion or shape your opinion in making sure you keep KCP versus different leads that were obviously limited if he lost him? Booth: Yeah, I think you have to look at everything and it's kind of a choice that's not limited. So we can try to bring him back and if he doesn't want to come back or chooses to go somewhere else, that's his right so we'll have to work with that. So I think we're ready to love plug and play so to speak. If you look at other teams that were playing well in the past, they should have found a way to close the fourth, fifth, and sixth places from the bench and continue to roll. It would be great if he's back, we'll have a lot going on together, but all the things I've looked at with the lineup stuff and everything, Christian Braun is one of the best guys in the league – just like KCP. . So I think if he is going to be in the starting line-up, I will show that we will be fine if KCP doesn't come back.” -via SB Nation / June 27, 2024