Darvin Ham has had nothing but positive things to say about Russell Westbrook ever since he took over as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. At various points, he expressed his excitement over getting to coach a player like Russ while also revealing that the two had great conversations regarding Westbrook’s role with the team.
He also expressed his support for Westbrook during this preseason and seemed like one of his most vocal defenders for the most part. Russ has seemingly come under fire from all corners for a while now, most recently for not being a part of the team’s pre-game huddle and he had some more bad news coming his way recently when it was reported that he would be coming off the bench for their final preseason game.
Darvin Ham Explains His Decision To Bring Russell Westbrook Off The Bench
Westbrook has had somewhat of a mixed bag of a preseason thus far. He had played and started in 3 of their 5 games and Adrian Wojnarowski revealed why the team had made the decision to have Russ come off the bench against the Kings.
“There’s a hope that Westbrook can play freer and faster with ball in his hands on second unit — and have to worry less about fitting away from ball around the starting group. It is certainly an idea they’ll continue to discuss with start of regular season next week.”
Ham also spoke on the matter in the lead-up to the game against the Kings, and he was keen to point out that this wasn’t a demotion for Russ.
Darvin Ham on Russell Westbrook coming off the bench tonight: “It’s not a demotion; it’s a realignment.”
“He totally understood… looked me in my eye and said, ‘Yeah coach whatever you need me to do.’” pic.twitter.com/DtVNFhNpEP
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) October 15, 2022
Darvin Ham on Russell Westbrook coming off the bench tonight: “It’s not a demotion; it’s a realignment.”
“He totally understood… looked me in my eye and said, ‘Yeah coach whatever you need me to do.’”
That sure is one way to phrase it but this doesn’t bode well for Westbrook’s future. Ham says Russ understood the decision, but he wouldn’t have liked it a whole lot. He is a former MVP and while coming off the bench for one preseason game might be something he would be willing to do, he wouldn’t want it to carry on into the season.
As for the Lakers, things had gone quiet on the trade front after months of speculation and it seemed like they had resigned themselves to the fact that Russ will be on the team for this upcoming season. We did, however, get a twist in that story when Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers are expected to re-open trade talks for Russ and that coupled with this realignment, as Ham puts it, is bad news for Westbrook.
