Russell Westbrook has had a bit of a torrid time since he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The All-Star point guard has struggled to fit in with the team and has been named as the cause of a lot of their issues over the course of the regular season up to this point.
Westbrook has averaged under 20 points for the season for the first time since his sophomore year in the NBA. On top of that, he is doing so on poor efficiency, shooting just 45% from the field and a disappointing 32% from three-point range. His turnover ratio is another issue, Russ is averaging 4.7 turnovers a game.
All of this has been compounded by the fact that he has been a negative on the defensive end. His defensive box plus-minus is -0.7 and he has just 1.4 defensive win shares, by far the lowest return of his career.
All things taken into account along with the Lakers’ 17-19 record, has seen Westbrook come in for quite a bit of criticism. Zach Lowe of ESPN has been the latest to call him out, declaring that the 33-year-old is simply no longer a superstar on his The Lowe Post podcast.
“I think it’s just time to call a spade a spade: Russ is not a superstar. Whatever your definition of a superstar, when I hear that word, what I hear is could make an All-NBA team this year kind of player. Russ just isn’t that player anymore. Defensively, he’s a disaster.”
Lowe went on to say that he cannot see the Lakers roster, constructed as it is right now, being able to win a playoff series.
“I never thought they were one of the best teams with the roster that they had. Obviously, Anthony Davis comes back (from injury) and James plays at the level he’s playing at, (then) they’re gonna be a formidable playoff team. Does that mean that could win four playoff series? No, I don’t see that.”
Westbrook has always been known as a high-intensity player around the NBA and he will need to showcase that again in their coming games if the Lakers are to make any noise in the Western Conference.
