If you had told someone a couple of weeks back that Russell Westbrook would be getting MVP chants at Lakers games, they would have laughed in your face. This was a man that fans desperately wanted to be shipped out of town and they had made their feelings clear regarding the former MVP.
There were groans when Westbrook would shoot threes and his relationship with the fans seemed to hit rock-bottom in the game against the Blazers, where he took an ill-advised pull-up jumper late in the game when the Lakers were up a point. After that game, head coach Darvin Ham made the decision to have Westbrook come off the bench and Russ has turned things around in some style since then.
Russell Westbrook Gets MVP Chants From Lakers Fans
His first three games off the bench were pretty good, but he took it to another level against the Jazz. Westbrook was almost perfect in the first half as he tried to keep the Lakers in the game. The second half was no different, as Russ kept impressing and fans in the arena showed him a lot of love with MVP chants when he was at the free-throw line.
Russell Westbrook getting MVP chants in LA pic.twitter.com/I9y0sE96jx
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 5, 2022
Moments like these are what makes sports so special. You always have a shot at redemption, and Westbrook has earned all the love he is now getting from Lakers fans. He is not only playing well but is also giving a lot of effort when he gets on the court, which fans always appreciate.
You couldn’t have seen things turning out this way even a couple of weeks back, and Russ deserves a lot of credit for fully embracing this new role. It would have been easy for him to just pout after being demoted to the bench, but instead, he is thriving in a way that we just didn’t think was ever going to be possible with the Lakers. We hope he keeps this up, as it would be one of the better stories to come out of the NBA recently, after all the chaos we have seen in these last few weeks.
