Shannon Sharpe is one of many Los Angeles Lakers fans unhappy with Russell Westbrook’s attitude during a recent preseason game. The former NBA MVP refused to join his team’s huddle not once but twice at different points of the night.
First, he refused to join the team pre-game huddle, although he greeted LeBron James. But once the rest of the squad lined up in the middle of the court, Russ stayed near the bench, only talking with coaches when the huddle broke.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he also didn’t want to join Patrick Beverley’s defensive huddle when he tried to give some instructions to the rest of the team. All these situations earned Westbrook a lot of criticism, with fans mercilessly blasting him for his attitude.
Shannon Sharpe Criticizes Russell Westbrook For Recent Controversy
Many people had something to say about this, and prior to Russ getting benched by Darvin Ham ahead of the Lakers’ preseason final, Shannon Sharpe went off on the former NBA MVP, saying that he’s done too much to earn the hate of the Lakers fanbase and that they hope to see him gone soon.
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“I think I speak for a lot of Laker Nation fans. They ready to be done with Russ. Russ doesn’t wanna be a Laker, and the Lakers doesn’t want him. They done with Russ. I think Russ is done with them also.”
“I’ve never seen somebody wave off a huddle. I ain’t got no scales. I just know that when he gets the ball, I get anxious, I wanna turn the TV off cos I know something good is not about to happen. It’s frustrating. They made a mistake. The Lakers made a mistake, Russ made a mistake in wanting to come to the Lakers. This is not gonna work.”
Shannon stated that having Russ on the team will only hurt the Lakers, and they won’t be able to win a title as long as they keep him. Russ has been linked with a move away from LA since last season, but so far, nothing has happened.
“As long as he’s on the team, the Lakers are not going to win a championship or really compete for a championship. I’m over this situation. Hopefully, they can get some value out of him running the second unit. I hope that’s the case. But it would be so much better if they were just able to part ways.”
Westbrook has found himself in a difficult position. His fit with LeBron James was never good, and no matter how bad they work together, the team seems to be willing to keep Russ for the sake of it.
Russ will be better off coming off the bench or joining another team without a dominant ball-handler like LeBron. This is the best solution for the Lakers, but it remains to be seen if they take that route.
