There has been a lot made of Russell Westbrook’s situation since the day he joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Initial excitement about a prospective Big 3 turned into horror quite fast following Anthony Davis’ injury concerns and Westbrook’s game seemingly falling off a cliff. Since halfway through the season, some Lakers fans have consistently been calling on the team to move on Westbrook.
The Nets, following the drama with Kyrie Irving, seemed like a likely trade partner for Westbrook, and there have also been some recent links to the Knicks. However, Russ, at the moment, is caught between the team seemingly being unable to find a trade for him and the stars reportedly already pushing the Lakers to get Kyrie.
The tension has become apparent quite a few times, and Westbrook’s split with his agent Thad Foucher also caused some serious waves. The Athletic’s Jovan Buha has now provided insight into why it might be difficult for Russ to find a new team and why his relationship with his agent deteriorated on The Athletic NBA Show podcast (starts at 20:16 minutes).
“It’s one thing to publically not acknowledge it, but clearly behind the scenes, he’s not realizing, if anyone trades for you, it’s for your contract. And them wanting to get off of money. And get an asset from the Lakers. It is not because they want you to be the face of the franchise, they want you to be the starting point guard. Like, any team that takes him on is facilitating, clearing their cap sheet.”
Even the recent rumors about the Knicks are based on the hypothetical that they might acquire Donovan Mitchell and then have to find a way to clear cap space. It’s evident that Westbrook’s stock is quite low, and while some like Shaq still believe in him, it’s difficult to see how any team could want him at the moment if the reports about what he thinks of the situation are true.
