Russell Westbrook was expected to push the Los Angeles Lakers back into the championship picture. But he wasn’t able to gel with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the squad, and ended up underperforming significantly. Westbrook wasn’t able to change his playing style to suit AD and LeBron, and that cost the Lakers dearly during the season. And Anthony Davis pointed that out recently.
During a recent interview, Anthony Davis spoke candidly about Russell Westbrook’s season. He noted that Westbrook was tasked with carrying the offense as the first option in previous years in Oklahoma City, Houston, and Washington. But with the Lakers, they did not need Westbrook to be like that, he need to adjust his game and adapt to the team’s style, much like LeBron, and even AD himself when they arrived.
I asked Anthony Davis about Russell Westbrook's often turbulent relationship with fans this season, how he and LeBron had communicated with him, and if he thought it could be healed. Davis' response was four minutes long, and he wrapped up with this point on Russ' role: pic.twitter.com/8o30BXvqhi
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) April 11, 2022
“People see things when Russ was in OKC and D.C. and how he played. Two totally different teams — well, three totally different teams. Russ, how he was in OKC, having triple-doubles we necessarily didn’t need that this year. Same way he played in D.C.: Brad Beal was out, so it was only Russ and they put guys around him. We didn’t need that Russ. So everybody — when I got here, I didn’t play the same way I played with Bron. Bron had to change, everybody had to change. Everybody had to make sacrifices. It was tough for him (Westbrook) to adjust to that.”
AD didn’t seem to throw any shade at Westbrook, noting that it was difficult for Russ to learn how to play with them because of how little the trio of LeBron, Davis, and Westbrook played together. Injuries played a big role in how the Lakers’ season went, with many believing that the team would have done better if they had all their stars available to them.
The future of Russell Westbrook in Los Angeles is still up in the air. Westbrook is expected to exercise his $47 million player option. But recently, the Charlotte Hornets have been rumored to be interested in the former MVP, so it is worth paying attention to the situation and whether the move comes to fruition.
