Russell Westbrook has come under constant fire for much of the last year as many among NBA circles put the blame on him for the Los Angeles Lakers struggling during the 2021-22 campaign. Expectations were high when the team traded for Russ but they crashed and burned to finish with a 33-49 record.
Westbrook had a disappointing season and he felt like he wasn’t backed by the coaching staff as he stated during his exit interview that he didn’t know what was Frank Vogel’s issue with him. Well, things look like they might be changing for the better for next season, as Russ might just be getting a big believer in him on his side, as the Lakers hired Rasheed Wallace as an assistant coach. We say that because Wallace bestowed upon Westbrook quite the high praise back in May 2021, when he stated that Russ was the best player in the league.
“Right now I gotta say, Russ is the best player in the NBA right now.”
– Rasheed Wallace on Westbrook during 2020-21 seasonpic.twitter.com/PBNmVk92Bi
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) June 6, 2022
“I gotta say Russ is the best player in the NBA right now. It’s no disrespect to KD and Kyrie and LeBron…… no disrespect to Steph Curry, I know you are the scoring champ but man what this kid is doing,”
These comments were made just over a year back as we stated earlier and Westbrook was on a roll back then for the Wizards as he ended the season by averaging 22.2 points, 11.7 assists, and 11.5 rebounds per game. Things have changed dramatically since then after his first season with the Lakers but it does seem like Wallace is a big admirer of Westbrook. Having someone who believes in him could be big for Russ as he seemingly felt like everyone was against him last season.
Whether that would be enough for a turnaround on the court, only time will tell. For his sake, we hope it happens, as Westbrook had become the butt of jokes during this season. It would be very unfortunate if a legend of the game ends up going out in this fashion.
