Getty LA Lakers stars LeBron James and Russell Westbrook warm up before a preseason game against the Phoenix Suns.
Russell Westbrook may have just joined the small group of players who have logged triple-doubles while playing on Christmas Day, but his was arguably the most underwhelming effort of the bunch. The Los Angeles Lakers star did put up 13 points, 12 boards and 11 assists, but he was also 4-of-20 from the field.
And when he was on the floor, the Brooklyn Nets outscored the Lakers by 23 points.
In spite of Westbrook’s poor performance as a shooter and defender in the contest, LeBron James continues to have his teammate’s back. “As far as the effort piece, if a guy plays hard, if a guy leaves it all out on the floor, I got no problem with that,” James said of Westbrook’s night.
The fan response was different, though. Westbrook’s uneven output inspired them to gripe in droves over the former league MVP coming up short once again. That’s nothing new, though; it has been going on all season.
Three days earlier, a viral fan tweet that included a repurposed clip from the 2019 All-Star Draft went so far as to send Westbrook out of town and NBA Twitter has been eating it up.
LeBron Trades Westbrook for Ben Simmons
Lebron foreseeing the Future!?🤔😂🙌🏽
The video (seen above) depicted James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who were All-Star captains that year, working out a trade after making their picks. In the clip, James is doing his best to sweet-talk Giannis into taking Westbrook off his hands in exchange for a certain Sixers point guard.
“I would love to see Russ and [Joel] Embiid be teammates because we know how much they get along,” James said. “I’m proposing a Russell Westbrook for Ben Simmons trade.”
Twitter user @DantheLakersFAN was responsible for the tweet and captioned the clip with, “Lebron foreseeing the Future!?” As of this writing, the post has amassed more than 6,000 likes and prompted a number of embattled fans to comment.
“God I hope,” responded one fan. “That’d be a 3 headed monster for ya. Simmons Bron AD coming down the floor at you”
“Simmons is better than literally everything than Westbrook besides shooting ARGUABLY,” read a second comment. “I’ll take Ben over terrible Russ nights over and over. He doesn’t need to shoot. Besides, I bet he’s worked on/improved shooting.”
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The Simmons Trade Probably Isn’t Happening
While Simmons could be an incredible fit next to James and Anthony Davis — and the Lakers are among the teams coveting the Aussie, per Shams Charania — there’s not really a clear path to getting him from Philly.
At this point in his career, Westbrook probably doesn’t cut the mustard for Sixers president Daryl Morey, who previously dealt for him in Houston. And the Lakers are unlikely (in the extreme) to part with James or Davis for Simmons. That leaves Los Angeles with little of substance to actually offer for Simmons.
For his part, Morey is said to want a top 25 player in any deal involving the former No. 1 overall pick.
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