Russell Westbrook’s exit from the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t without drama. And amid the whole “vampire” comment controversy that garnered chatter on social media, one fan had the guard’s back when he shared a heartwarming story about Westbrook as the ultimate friend and teammate.
The 34-year-old was traded to the Utah Jazz ahead of the deadline and soon after, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin revealed a torrid statement somebody made about Westbrook.
“As one source told me, you remove a vampire from the locker room. That meaning, a vampire sucks the blood out of the locker room. Russell Westbrook moves on.”
Safe to say, the comment didn’t sit too well with the fans and former players, including Westbrook’s wife, Nina who slammed the network.
Now, one of the fans shared a story of Westbrook’s relationship with his childhood friend, a piece of which was published on Vice over five years ago. Here’s what the fan wrote:
Russell Westbrook’s positive impact as a teammate and leader is unquestionable. During his career, Russ has never went behind his teams’ back to use journalists as a cudgel to passive aggressively create a media narrative for himself. He’s never passively aggressively tried to get his teammates shipped off of his teams. Not in OKC, not in Houston, not in Washington, and not in LAC. In fact, he’s done the opposite.
The story places focus on Khelcey Barrs III, a high school phenom, who was touted as the next big thing in the NBA. He was Westbrook’s best friend, but it was a tragic end to his greatness-destined career when he died on the Los Angeles Southwest College gymnasium’s court due to an enlarged heart.
The fan picked an excerpt from the article to highlight the guard’s actions that showed how he was the ultimate team man and more importantly a good friend.
Westbrook takes the court with KB3—Barrs’ initials and jersey number—printed on a rubber bracelet that he wears on his shooting wrist. Several of his signature shoes feature a small “RIP” printed on one tongue and “KB3” on the other.
After Barrs died, Westbrook took over doing his chores at his grandmother’s house until he went off to UCLA. Barrs used to wash his younger sister Marilyn’s hair once a week, so in stepped Westbrook to fill the role. To this day, Marilyn considers Westbrook to be another big brother. Westbrook has mentioned Barrs in several interviews, but mostly talks about him in generalities
It’s unfortunate that Westbrook has received the flak that he did during his tumultuous tenure with the Lakers that lasted less than two years. But there have been instances that he’s been the one to take a bullet for his team and his mates.
NBA Fans React To The Westbrook And Khelcey Barrs’s Story
Those familiar with the story, the ones newly introduced to this side of Westbrook shared their two cents.
While some believed that some of the treatment meted out to the explosive former MVP was wrong, some were of the opinion that his foray into the Lakers shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Westbrook is a good dude, I think he’s just in the twilight of his career and is learning how to face that fact
I’m hopeful he’s able to make a late career pivot into a sixth man role.
Man, watching westbrook his MVP year was amazing. So many clutch moments by him.
Russ is a legend and hall of famer. The disrespect he gets is unreal!
I think he will be respected when he retires. much like AI is now. everyone was clowning on AI in the end. but now he’s super respected and people love him.
People overhate everything he does and it’s the Lakers to double it, but he was providing crazy energy on the bench
People were clowning Westbrook AND the Lakers. Now that Westbrook is gone people are pretending they never called him a negative thing in their life
We know he was a great man off-court.
calling him a vampire is a little excessive
Russell Westbrook is an amazing human being. Any criticism of his basketball ability should always be mutually exclusive of his character.
Earlier, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka defended Westbrook after the team failed to make the playoffs last season. Per Michael Corvo of ClutchPoints:
“Our aspirations when we did the Westbrook trade was it would lead to a championship, a contending team. We didn’t meet that goal. So, you have to then look to pivot if something is not working to correct it. … I think it’s really unfair to put the last year and a half, or whatever period of time that is, on one player. I think the whole roster has to come together and fit.”
Hopefully, Westbrook can get his mojo back and be his electric self in the days to come. He’s still got ample basketball left in him.
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