Getty Darvin Ham with Russell Westbrook.
The Russell Westbrook experiment for the Los Angeles Lakers was a total failure. In less than two seasons, the team was 56-74 with the former MVP guard. Following the team’s February trade of Westbrook, they went 18-9 the rest of the season and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
While it’s easy to blame Westbrook for the Lakers’ struggles from early last season, head coach Darvin Ham doesn’t believe that is the case. He thinks that the guard is unfairly maligned for his time in Los Angeles.
“And I told Russ, I said—and shout out to Russ, man. He takes a lot of blame, and everybody seems to want to talk stuff about him … but some of the stuff he has to endure, and he’s still a very, very highly capable basketball player. I appreciate him for just giving it a chance and complying with what I wanted to do and just taking a bullet for the team,” Ham said on the July 11 episode of “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast.
Westbrook eventually signed with the Los Angeles Clippers where the team went 11-10 in 21 games with the guard. The team then went on to lose in five games to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
Darvin Ham’s Explain Why Russell Westbrook Was Benched
After starting 78 games for the Lakers during the 2021-22 season, Darvin Ham decided to have Russell Westbrook come off the bench last season. In the 52 games he played for the team, he started just three of them. It wasn’t a surprising move at the time and is long in the past, but Ham decided to further explain the process of benching the nine-time All-Star.
“And like I told him, it’s not a demotion … okay, we got you, [Anthony Davis] and [LeBron James] in the starting lineup. All of you guys need the ball, and most times you give it up, you’re going to go stand somewhere,” Ham said on “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast.
“Why not allow me to help you, help us by realigning the rotation to where now you’re coming off, and you get to dominate, dictate and do everything.”
The Clippers didn’t have Westbrook come off the bench as he started all 21 games he played for the team.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham joins the #thisleague UNCUT podcast LIVE from the NBA Summer League and talks about the Lakers being accused of “flopping” during their series against the Warriors with @ChrisBHaynes and @TheSteinLine.
FULL EPISODE: t.co/S8FuvV54q5
Darvin Ham Further Praises Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook’s tenure with the Lakers won’t be remembered fondly due to the lack of winning. However, he has still cemented himself as one of the greatest players of all time and was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021 which listed the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
Though Westbrook’s time with the Lakers was filled with turmoil, Darvin Ham wanted to put out the remainder that the guard is one of the best basketball players ever.
“People forget, man, when he came in from that reserve role, and we would put runners and shooters and rim rollers and finishers around him,” Ham said on the “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast. “There’s times they were chanting MVP for Russ. He saved our a** a bunch of nights where we started off flat and he came in and he pushed the tempo. He brought that energy. And you look up, and now we’ve gone on a 12-to-2 or 10–0 run as soon as he stepped into the lineup off the bench.”