After another abysmal shooting performance on Wednesday night, Russell Westbrook found himself at the center of criticism once again. Despite his illustrious resume and talented abilities on the floor, the guy has some serious flaws to his game and it’s destroying the Lakers’ offense.
One of the worst aspects of his game involves shooting. While Russ has never been a particularly excellent perimeter shot maker, he’s at a low point in his career as he shoots just 29% on the season.
Over the past few weeks, in fact, he hasn’t been able to make any threes at all. As one fan noted on Reddit, the Lakers guard hasn’t actually hit a shot from beyond the arc since December 29th.
Wtf is Russell Westbrook doing on this team? ðŸ˜
The other team just laughing at us pic.twitter.com/nk6YYrmpC4
— Michael B (@Lilmikyb) January 13, 2022
4 Point Game.
Lakers have all of the momentum.
Just over 1 minute remaining.
And this is the shot the Lakers take. This is the shot Russell Westbrook takes. pic.twitter.com/HuYFhjiDCy
— Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) January 13, 2022
Russell Westbrook over his last 3 games:
8 points (2-14 FG)
6 points (2-12 FG)
9 points (4-14 FG) pic.twitter.com/aX6nfSGfho
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 13, 2022
At this point, fans have clearly had enough. All over social media calls for the Lakers to trade Westbrook have grown louder and most fans are all for a benching as well.
Interestingly, even the Lakers themselves seem to be having second thoughts about bringing Russ in. According to earlier reports, they explored the idea of getting rid of him already.
Meanwhile, in Lakers Land, where LeBron James and Anthony Davis spent the summer interviewing a variety of star players who they hoped would lighten their workload, it’s Russell Westbrook’s presence that has proven to be so problematic. It’s still an awkward fit between Westbrook and the Lakers, to say the least — especially with his massive salary slot ($44.2 million this season, $47 million player option for next season).
Sources say the Lakers showed some covert interest in discussing a possible Westbrook trade with rival executives earlier this season. A deal appears extremely unlikely before the Feb. 15 trade deadline, if only because his deal that was once seen by so many as untradeable is such a massive obstacle. But inside the Lakers, it seems, there is some recognition that this hasn’t gone as (James and Davis had) planned.
Unfortunately for L.A., trading Russ is an impossible task at this moment in time. Besides his poor performance inhibiting his value, he’s set to make over 85$ in the next two seasons.
So, unless they work some kind of miracle, they’re stuck with the status quo. It’s up to Russ, and the team, to work on a solution and turn things around.
