Once upon a time, nearly all the LA-based professional sports players only wanted to live in Calabasas or somewhere in the surrounding San Fernando Valley area (or Manhattan Beach, but we digress). And many of them continue to favor these far-flung neighborhoods, of course.
Nevertheless, there has recently been a stealthy (and small, thus far) athlete migration to the ultra-expensive Westside region of LA, particularly the low-key and family-friendly (but hella pricey) Brentwood neighborhood made infamous in the 90s by OJ Simpson. LeBron James owns not one but two $20+ million mansions in the area, Lakers guy Luol Deng snagged a snazzy contemporary above Mandeville Canyon, and now Russell Westbrook — one of the NBA’s biggest and brightest stars — has quietly plunked down nearly 20 million smackers on a spec-mansion in swanky Brentwood Park.
For those of you non-fans of basketball, Mr. Westbrook is a very big deal in his professional arena. He has played in the NBA continuously since 2008 — all of those years spent with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Our longtime pal Ms. Wiki Pedia says that Mr. Westbrook is “a seven-time NBA All-Star, and a two-time NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, winning consecutive awards in 2015 and 2016. He is also a six-time All-NBA Team member and led the league in scoring in 2014–15 and 2016–17.” Oh, and Mr. Westbrook is also an Olympic gold medalist.
Off the court, Mr. Westbrook is a fashion maven with a penchant for risky style. This guy is not afraid of a daring high-waisted pant or some rather risqué horizontal stripes. He can even rock an all-leather ensemble and an eye-catching pair of pinstripe overalls (though not at the same time, thankfully)!
And on a more personal front, Mr. Westbrook has been married to his longtime lady love Nina Earl since 2015, and the couple have a toddler-age son named Noah. Though they live primarily in Oklahoma these days, both Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook hail from the LA area — he from Long Beach, and she from the city of Upland in San Bernardino County (about an hour northeast of Downtown LA). Hence why the couple wants to retain a real estate foothold in LA, where many of their friends and family members are based.
But we digress. All of Mr. Westbrook’s professional success has made his market value skyrocket. Less than a year ago (in September 2017) he hammered out a new contract with the Thunder said to be worth an unfathomable $233 million. And yes, that is reportedly the biggest contract in NBA history.
Hot damn! Clearly Mr. Westbrook has the cash to afford a $19.8 million mansion in Brentwood.
Unfortunately for y’all, Yolanda does not currently possess any decent photos of the new Westbrook LA estate. This deal went down totally off-market, and we have not been able to dig up the pics anywhere. But never fear, we are still working on it — in the meantime, if anyone out there has a secret stash, you know what to do. Give your gurl a holler!
Records show that the property was owned from 2003 to 2016 by actors Anthony LaPaglia and Gia Carides. Amid their divorce, the Cape Cod-ish house was sold off two years ago for $8.2 million. The buyer was architect/developer Ken Ungar, one of the most prolific and successful homebuilders on LA’s Westside. Our Mr. Ungar is primarily known for his Traditional, East Coast-style mansions that are favored by celebrities. In fact, one of Mr. Ungar’s other Brentwood Park houses sold a few years back for about $21 million to none other than LeBron James.
Anyway, Mr. Ungar quickly razed the smaller existing house on the site in question and spec-built a sprawling mansion with fancy everything. A couple weeks back, he unloaded the brand-new beast for $19,800,000 to a corporate entity front for Mr. Westbrook.
Permits Yolanda pulled indicate that Mr. Westbrook’s new house has a three-car garage, a full basement, an elevator, an outdoor pool and spa, and some sort of sports court. Naturally the half-acre property is completely walled and gated for privacy.
Including the basement, the residence has three full floors with approximately 13,000-square-feet of living space. That is a big place! Not quite a mega-mansion, but surely a ton of room for three people.
Besides LeBron, some of the Westbrooks’ nearest new Brentwood Park neighbors include James Corden, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, Marcy Carsey, Tobey Maguire, and Trey Parker.
During basketball season, Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook live in the Oklahoma City area — in the suburban city of Edmond, to be specific. In late 2012, Mr. Westbrook coughed up $1,945,000 for a grand(iose) stone McMansion that weighs in at more than 8,300-square-feet of living space and includes a tractor-trailer sized porte–cochère.
The Westbrooks also already have an LA crash pad — or a “starter home”, if you will. In late 2015, the couple paid $4,650,000 for the Beverly Hills Post Office house of Keeping Up With The Kardashians “star” Scott Disick. The property is situated privately down a long driveway and is a two-minute walk to Beverly Park, arguably SoCal’s most prestigious guard-gated community.
The “Traditional-with-a-contemporary-twist” 90210 spread is not currently listed on the market, but Yolanda would be shocked if the Westbrooks were not looking to unload it very soon.