Russell Westbrook is just getting settled with the Houston Rockets when the collegiate sporting world was rattled by the latest news about athletes getting paid for their services.
California recently passed a law that will allow student-athletes of varying sports to get paid for their services. This legislation also allows student-athletes to hire agents and get into contracts with companies for their likeness.
While NCAA and many others in the collegiate sporting world are up in arms against the ground-breaking measure, basketball stars like Westbrook more than welcome the change introduced by the country's most populated state.
Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints asked about Westbrook's thoughts on the matter, and the new Rockets guard is very receptive of the move.
Asked #Rockets' Russell Westbrook on the Cali legislation to get NCAA student-athletes paid for their image/likeness – “It’s great man. That’s good, I think its important. College kids work so hard and put themselves in a position to go out get to this level. It’s good for them.” pic.twitter.com/5bnXLkLs1a
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 2, 2019
The situation is close to Westbrook's heart for obvious reasons. Not only is he a California native, but he is also a two-year player for the UCLA Bruins. He played alongside Kevin Love and had a strong sophomore season where he averaged 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.6 steals on a 49 percent shooting clip.
The main argument the NCAA and many of the schools from the “Power Five” conferences is that it professionalizes the sport and takes away the main gain of student-athletes, which is to get a degree.
California's ‘Fair Pay to Play' law will irrevocably change the way the college sports scene is set up from now on. And NBA superstars like Westbrook are loving it.
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