The Los Angeles Lakers season, by just about any way you slice it, was a gigantic disappointment. L.A. entered this year with championship aspirations, and instead, the team won’t even make the Western Conference play-in tournament. A new piece by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN dives into some of the ways things went wrong for the Lakers this season, and unsurprisingly, it turns out the decision to trade for Russell Westbrook had quite the domino effect on the franchise.
The biggest question from the moment the Lakers acquired Westbrook — something that Shelburne reports happened because “[LeBron] James and [Anthony] Davis’ enthusiasm for Westbrook were what moved the process in that direction” — was how he would fit on the court alongside Los Angeles’ other stars. The answer ended up being not particularly well, but beyond that, Shelburne reports that Westbrook found himself in a situation where he didn’t always have people publicly defending him, with some folks thinking this was a necessary thing.
There were those in the organization who felt only humiliation would spur Westbrook to change his style of play to fit better within the team structure. Vogel, for his part, believed they should stand by him and give him the space to figure it out, just as he had in other situations over the years, team sources said. While Vogel did eventually bench Westbrook at the end of games when he was not effective, he continued to start him, give him chances and praise him when he played well.
While there was apparently a belief that Westbrook was not receptive to feedback from efforts to reach out to him, someone close to him was quoted as saying, “Why is he going to listen if he feels like you’ve been letting him get crucified all year?”
Westbrook’s name popped up in trade conversations midseason, but ultimately, he stuck around past the deadline. He has a player option for 2022-23 worth approximately $47 million before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.