It looks like the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Big Three will be back next season.
According to Marc Stein of Substack, the Lakers plan to keep Russell Westbrook next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Teams are asking Los Angeles to give up additional assets to trade Westbrook and the purple and gold have no interest in doing that.
“The Lakers are tuning out the skeptics yet again and insisting to anyone who will listen that they would rather keep Russell Westbrook on the roster for next season than surrender additional assets to convince someone to trade for him,” Stein reported. “The Lakers are also said to be adamant that they won’t release the former MVP and eat his $47.1 million player option for next season after Westbrook picks it up.”
Westbrook shot 44.4% from the field, 29.8% from beyond the arc and 66.7% from the free-throw line in his first season with the Lakers. The two-time scoring champion and one-time MVP was second in the NBA in turnovers and his effective field goal percentage of 47.6% was sixth-worst in the league.
Westbrook was booed at home games and called “Russell Westbrick.” Overall, it was a tough season for the future Hall of Famer.
However, it appears the Lakers are banking on their new head coach to revitalize Westbrook.
Lakers Hired Darvin Ham, Who Was Asked About Westbrook
Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham agreed to a four-year deal to become the next coach of the Lakers. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Ham was asked how he planned to use Westbrook in his system during his interview.
“Ham will be charged with returning the Lakers to the postseason after a disastrous 33-49 season that cost Frank Vogel his job. One of Ham’s most important directives: finding a way to incorporate future Hall of Fame guard Russell Westbrook into the franchise’s framework with LeBron James and Anthony Davis,” Wojnarowski reported. “It was a significant subject of every Lakers coaching interview in the process, sources said.”
Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 2021-22. He finished the season with a plus-minus of -211. Russ has a player option worth $47,063,478 for next season and he’s widely expected to pick it up.
Westbrook Went Off During His Final Press Conference
Westbrook didn’t hold anything back during his final press conference of the season on April 11. The UCLA product called out the Lakers organization multiple times.
“When I first got here, unfortunately, people create narratives of who I am and what I do and what I believe in that just aren’t true,” Westbrook said. “I’m always having to prove myself again year after year after year, which to me is really unfair. There’s no reason for me to have to do that. So when I first got in here, I just felt that I never was given a fair chance just to be who I needed to be to help this team.
“The famous ‘source’ stories that came out about myself, whether it be between me and the staff, me and Frank, me and the fans, there’s just so many made-up stories that are not true. It’s just always having to fight against that constantly. It’s just not [being] given a fair chance. It’s like, ‘OK, now I got to fight against this made-up story. Now I got to fight against this one. Now I go to fight against this one. Now I got to fight against this one.’”
Westbrook was asked by reporters what would entice him to want to play for the Lakers again after everything he went through in 2021-22. The California native had this to say: “I mean obviously it’s going to be a lot of different changes based on who the coach is and how our style of play and what we play like. So that question is kind of up in the air, but once that decision is made, then we’ll kind of go from there.”
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Lakers Telling ‘Anyone Who Will Listen’ They Won’t Trade Future Hall of Famer: Report