Russell Westbrook has had a tough time with the Los Angeles Lakers thus far. He struggled for the majority of last season, and many criticized his fit with stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
There’s no doubt that the criticism of Russell Westbrook continued into this season. In fact, analyst Kendrick Perkins has recently claimed that Russell Westbrook’s game has “declined” and added that Westbrook’s behavior is becoming “cancerous to the team”.
“This is the hard part about doing my job, when I come up here, and actually do my job. Russell Westbrook, the love I have for him, for his momma Westbrook, OG Westbrook, his brother Ray, Nina [Russell’s wife], his family. But damn it, I got a job to do, and here is the thing: is Russ’ game declining? Hell yeah. Has it declined? Yes. Should have Rob Pelinka traded Russ this offseason? Hell yeah. Ok, so let’s talk about the now. What are you gonna do now? We watched the game [against the Blazers], we watched Russ’ body language… The fact is that Russ’ behavior is coming cancerous to the team, and we heard Darvin Ham talk about it. You know what Darvin Ham said about people in their feelings because when Russell Westbrook was on the bench, he was mooping, he was complaining, he was saying little things under his breath. Now, what do you do? You send him home. You send him home until you find that somebody is going to trade for him, because right now you can’t continue to bring him into that locker room because his attitude is going to wave off.”
Kevin Garnett has recently offered Russell Westbrook some advice amidst all the noise surrounding him. Garnett told Westbrook to “reset” himself, and remember why he plays basketball in the first place.
KG’s advice to Westbrook: “Hold your head, man. I know how this s**t can be. It’s a long year. Whatever you gotta do, find your love and find your passions. Reset yourself and remember why you do this.”
(Via @shobasketball)
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 24, 2022
“Hold your head, man. I know how this s**t can be. It’s a long year. Whatever you gotta do, find your love and find your passions. Reset yourself and remember why you do this.”
There is no doubt that being criticized as Russell Westbrook has been during his time on the Los Angeles Lakers can have an effect on one’s psyche, and that in turn can affect performance. Hopefully, we see Russell Westbrook perform better in the future, and show that he can still be an impactful player on a winning team.
Russell Westbrook Getting Traded Could Benefit Everyone
Russell Westbrook getting moved at some point this year would be good for both him and the Los Angeles Lakers. Russell Westbrook would get a fresh start elsewhere and get to up his stock as a player, while the Los Angeles Lakers could potentially get some good fitting players in return for Westbrook in a trade.
It remains to be seen if the Los Angeles Lakers will in fact manage to trade Russell Westbrook to another team. There are definitely some solid moves out there, and if the Lakers attach some of their future picks to Russell Westbrook’s contract, then they could bring back some key pieces that could bring them to the playoffs.
