Russell Westbrook on the Los Angeles Lakers is no more, as the Purple and Gold finally traded him in a multiple-team deal. The former NBA MVP had a terrible first season with the 17-time NBA champions, but this campaign, he showed much better things on the court.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the point guard, who couldn’t make a bigger impact on the team, still earning a lot of criticism from fans. This situation led to many rumors involving Russ, and yesterday, the Lakers finally pulled the trigger on this trade.
Westbrook is headed to the Utah Jazz in a three-team deal involving the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Los Angeles Lakers landed D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley in the process, adding very interesting pieces to their roster.
Russell Westbrook Earned A Lot Of Criticism During His Time With Lakers
While things look bright for the Lakers, it’s different for Russ, who is expected to be bought out by the Utah Jazz. They are trying to win with their young pieces while also thinking about the future, and Russ could ruin those plans.
The triple-double king leaves the Lakers with a terrible image, as according to one Lakers insider, he was dubbed ‘a vampire’ inside the locker room. Dave McMenamin of ESPN revealed the bad statement somebody made about Russ.
“As one source told me, ‘you remove a vampire from the locker room’.”
Dave McMenamin spoke on the Lakers moving on from Russell Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/l4uCxvKo91
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 9, 2023
“This was the time to do it. Russell Westbrook was not going to be part of this team after the summer when his contract expired, and also when his contract came off the books the Lakers would have less money to deal with in the free agency period this summer.
“You get younger, you got shooting, you got switchable defenders, and 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.”
This is a very serious accusation about Russ, who always tried to be as professional as possible. Things didn’t end well for him on the Lakers, as Westbrook even had a heated altercation with Darvin Ham, in the locker room, during the team’s most recent game, where LeBron broke the all-time scoring record.
Now, he’s on the hunt for a new team, as the Jazz have no plans with him on their roster. The Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls have been mentioned as potential landing spots, but time will tell.
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