Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love had one big issue as UCLA roommates
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love have grown into veteran NBA stars, but the memories of both sharing a room as teenaged UCLA teammates in the 2007-08 teammates haven’t faded into the background.
Appearing on Thursday’s episode of “Hot Ones,” Love laughed as he remembered the one big sticking point between the two Bruins: The temperature of the room they shared on the road.
“We had thermostat battles,” said Love, who spent only one year at UCLA and was one year younger than Westbrook. “He was doing 74, 75 degrees, wake up in the middle of the night, turn that thermostat up. And for me, I’m like 68 [degrees]. But, you know, that little bit of heat really makes a difference.
“For me, I was very responsive to [the heat]. I’d wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, couldn’t get any sleep.”
Watch the clip here (and share our regret in not coming up with this program concept ourselves):
This isn’t the first time Love has talked about the issue. Love also wrote about it in a piece for the Players Tribune about his college days in Westwood:
Russ and I ended up being roommates on the road. I think we had an immediate bond because we had common goals coming out of high school. We’d lie around our hotel room talking about making it to the NBA.
Sometimes Russ could be a stubborn roommate. We butted heads because we were competitive about everything. We competed at video games. We played hundreds of hands of a card game called “13.” (I still maintain that I’m up by one point.) We showed up to the gym early (he was somehow always there before me) to lift, study film and get in some extra shooting.
We were even competitive over the temperature of the room.
You know the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Vivica’s character is sick in bed and Larry keeps adjusting the thermostat? That was me and Russ.
Our thermostat battles would go something like this….
“Minimum 74,” he’d say.
I needed the room cold. Around 68 was perfect.
At night, Russ would jump up from bed and turn the dial way up — and then five minutes later I would sneak over and turn it back down.
One time I offered a compromise — “How ‘bout 71 degrees?”
“Seventy-three,” Russ replied. “Final offer.”
See what I mean? Dude is stubborn.
Despite their differences in environmental preferences, both Love and Westbrook have remained friends with Love attending Westbrook’s wedding in 2015.
h/t: Sporting News
