Russell Westbrook is having a truly wretched start to the 2022-23 season for the Los Angeles Lakers. Amid hope that Westbrook will adjust his play style under new head coach Darvin Ham, the team was expected to be in the playoff race. However, the Lakers have started the season 0-3, being comfortably the worst offensive team in the league.
Russell Westbrook has made only one three this season, despite shot quality metrics saying Westbrook has attempted the most open looks this season. Kevin O’Connor from The Ringer dug into this and found out that Westbrook is currently facing the lower contest rate in NBA history, with teams just letting Russ shoot wide-open shots, knowing he will miss.
“Through three games this season, opponents are contesting jump shots by Russell Westbrook only 41.2 percent of the time. According to Second Spectrum, that’s by far the lowest contest rate in NBA tracking data history, which dates back to 2013-14.”
“That’s not pretty much it, though. To put Westbrook’s 41.2 percent contest rate in perspective, only two other players on record have had less than 50 percent of their jumpers contested: Joakim Noah, at 48.7 percent in 2013-14 with the Bulls, and Andre Roberson, at 48.8 percent during the 2016-17 season with the Thunder. This season, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon’s 60 percent contest rate is the league’s second-lowest behind Westbrook’s.” (h/t The Ringer)
Westbrook may not be a great shooter but his being this bad is a massive issue for the Lakers. Maybe a trade to get other shooters at the expense of Westbrook is what the Lakers need.
Can Westbrook Turn It Around?
It doesn’t look like there’s any redemption for Westbrook on the Lakers this season. He has already blamed the Lakers for putting him on the bench and causing an injury, subtly letting everyone know that he doesn’t want to be coming off the bench. The Lakers almost beat the Portland Trail Blazers without him, but his offensive blunders in clutch time of the game cost the Lakers dearly.
In the situation Russ is in, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any success. The Lakers will be better off moving Westbrook for roster depth that may actually fit well around LeBron James and give the lakers a shot at making the playoffs.
