It has been a frustrating season for the Lakers, and after Tuesday night’s loss to Dallas, Russell Westbrook made it clear that he’s completely out of answers.
During one exchange with a reporter in the post-game press conference, Russ got up and left the room after one particular exchange.
(per Harrison Faigen)
Russell Westbrook took issue with a question and got up and left the press conference, asking repeatedly “do you have the answers for me?” to a reporter.
As best I can gather, the question Russ took issue with was about the standings. The reporter replied to Russ saying “do you have the answers for me” with “I’m not up there playing” and then the audio cuts off as Russ got up.
https://twitter.com/hmfaigen/status/1508990195802071044https://twitter.com/hmfaigen/status/1508992260561539074
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 30, 2022
Some of the studio guys were able to contact the reporter and get his side of the story.
this is tremendous television pic.twitter.com/HG0SzJefdN
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 30, 2022
It was a bizarre and awkward moment, for sure, but you can’t blame Westbrook for losing his cool. He was asked that question earlier this week and didn’t have much to say then either. Truth be told, nobody can say for certain where things went wrong.
The Lakers have been abysmal and Westbrook has been the biggest scapegoat.
There has been an increasing push among many in the Los Angeles Lakers organization to demote nine-time All-Star guard Russell Westbrook from the starting lineup, but so far coach Frank Vogel has resisted bringing him off the bench, sources told ESPN.
The coaching staff and Westbrook have had differing visions on how best to utilize the 2017 NBA Most Valuable Player, and that has partly accounted for some tense moments between Vogel and Westbrook in the past several days, including during a Friday team film session, sources said.
Things aren’t completely hopeless for the Lakeshow. Despite how bad things have gotten, they still have a chance to sneak into the playoffs.
It will, however, require a total and complete effort from the team, and probably a whole lot of luck, too.
With the odds stacked against them, and the walls closing in, the Lakers must be feeling all the pressure in the world to save this season. Sadly, whether they make the playoffs or not, they are unlikely to play past the first round.
