Once again, the NBA world is ensnared in Russell Westbrook’s trap. A partnership with LeBron James and Anthony Davis can be great, but will it? The debate is one we’ve had loudly for nearly a half-decade.
It’s a source of frustration for everyone involved. Fans remain largely optimistic about him as a great player because they see a person who embodies so much of what you want from a basketball player. He hustles, he’s consistent, he fills up the box score, and he is a beloved teammate by many. Those who are paid to analyze the league see what has been true for years, and what was only amplified when Kevin Durant left the Thunder: that Westbrook has not adopted the habits necessary to turn his skill set into a winning recipe.
That collision of perspectives has only intensified in recent years as we’ve all been forced to think about Westbrook more often because of all the high profile trades he’s been involved in lately. Who has played with more of the league’s best players than Westbrook? Now that yet another deal landed him in Los Angeles alongside LeBron, Davis and the 2020 champion Lakers, what sits before Westbrook now is likely his last best chance to be a key piece on a title team.
Can it be different here than it was in Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant or Paul George, in Houston with James Harden or in Washington with Bradley Beal? There are plentiful explanations for why those tandems failed to get to the top, but it’s safe to say that if Westbrook can’t make it work with some folks’ GOAT and potentially the greatest defensive player of his generation, his options to compete for a ring may run dry — at least in a starring role.
As one of the grittier superstars the NBA has ever seen, Westbrook has always been asked to be the soul of star-studded teams. There’s a reason that in many of these controversial deals, Westbrook has still commanded positive value. After all, he’s averaged a triple-double in four of five seasons. But since Durant left (the last time Russ made a conference final), many of his teams failed, not because they didn’t get enough heart or production from Westbrook, but because they were doomed by how he operated on the court. Being next to LeBron and Davis theoretically smoothes out some of the wrinkly parts of Westbrook’s game, yet as has always been true, it will work only if Westbrook adapts.
Breakdowns have already been written about how Westbrook can help get Davis better shots, help the Lakers be better when LeBron is off the floor, and get badly needed buckets for an LA offense that ranked in the bottom half of the NBA last season. Yet even optimistic takes rely on the same promise we’ve conjured up about Westbrook in every new situation over the past half-decade: that he becomes a different type of player than he’s ever been.
Westbrook should never be criticized for what he can’t do. The man is a bat out of hell when he wants to be, and tries anything in the name of winning. To win with his shooting and defensive limitations, though, Westbrook needs to more consistently make the smaller winning plays that allow him to fit next to other great players. Otherwise, he is taking possessions away from LeBron, cluttering the Lakers’ spacing, and giving opposing offenses another defensive weak link that Davis and LA’s team scheme must make up for.
When people describe what Westbrook can do to help make the Lakers a title team again, they seem to be describing someone who operates almost like a backup for LeBron. The version of Westbrook who would make sense for the Lakers is one who feeds Davis, screens for LeBron, infuses nitrous into the Lakers’ transition offense, defends opposing playmakers, and slips in for easy buckets when opponents pay too much attention to the two superstars. There’s no question that player is present inside of Westbrook, the concern is it isn’t allowed to come out.
Some not-so-subtle part of Westbrook continues to believe that him taking full control of the offense is the best path to his team winning. He hasn’t been able to kick that habit in over a decade in the NBA, even as a consensus has developed among close followers that his default settings aren’t ideal. There will be moments in every game when Westbrook is allowed to drift back into his preferred stylings, but to win close playoff games one after another, everyone in the world knows LeBron needs to have the ball.
Will he finally be able to accept a smaller, less commanding role? The Lakers have many things that could inspire promise that Westbrook might change. First is LeBron, maybe the greatest playmaker in the history of the NBA can command the respect of Westbrook to cede some of that on-court leadership role. There is also a return home for Westbrook, as well as the looming end to his super-max contract in 2023. Of course there is a chance an aging Westbrook could cling to a superteam in the future and chase a ring, but for someone as intoxicated by competition as Westbrook, it’s only reasonable he’d want to do it while he’s still in his prime.
If there were ever a time for Westbrook to turn the whirling dervish routine into something more refined, it’s in this situation. Part of why NBA insiders and writers seem to be critical is the same reason fans remain so dead set: we all want to see it. We see one of the most aggressive players ever to step foot on a court, someone whose physical gifts make him impossible to contain, and it seems so obvious that he should be able to channel that into greatness.
Joining up with a player as genius as LeBron and someone in Davis who cleans up so much — in L.A.! — certainly magnifies that struggle, but also slides it closer to something Westbrook ought to be able to accept.