The Los Angeles Lakers won an NBA title 486 days ago but it feels like it’s been way longer than that. The 26-29 Lakers are in ninth place in the West and were most recently blown out by the defending champions in Los Angeles, and once again, Russell Westbrook closed out the game on the bench.
The Lakers came back from a 21-point deficit on Saturday night to defeat the Knicks in overtime but their performance on Tuesday was no match for the Bucks. Milwaukee cruised to 131-116 win behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 44 points (17-of-20).
To no surprise, LeBron James led Los Angeles with 27 points (11-of-19) and Anthony Davis added 22 (8-of-10) but their efforts weren’t enough.
When all three are on the court, the Lakers’ Big Three has been more of a Big Two. The purple and gold are nearly three-fourths of the way through the regular season and Westbrook’s struggles have only become a bigger issue.
He finished with 10 points (3-of-11), 10 rebounds, five assists, and four turnovers in 26 minutes on Tuesday.
Russell Westbrook trying to cheer up LeBron and AD pic.twitter.com/GH92RTp7C6
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 9, 2022
The Los Angeles Lakers are at a dead end with Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook played in 10 minutes of the first quarter before he was taken out of the game after scoring zero points (0-of-4). After one quarter, Los Angeles had already allowed Milwaukee to score 36 points and was down by 12.
The optimism around the organization isn’t high. After the game, James said that the Lakers aren’t on the same level as the Bucks. That’s obvious but that’s not where Los Angeles thought that it would be at following the moves that Rob Pelinka made in the offseason.
Now, the Lakers are stuck and with a little over 24 hours remaining until the 2022 trade deadline, Los Angeles has yet to make a move. Westbrook’s contract only complicates the matter. The guard is making $44.2 million this season and has a player option of $47 million for 2022-23.
The Lakers could shock the NBA realm (again) and execute a deal that would send Westbrook back to Houston in exchange for John Wall but that’s the only logical route and even that feels unattainable. It doesn’t help that Los Angeles’ next first round pick isn’t until 2027.
Westbrook has been a non-factor for the Lakers. For the second straight contest, he watched his teammates from the bench as Tuesday’s game came to an end.
After the game, Westbrook said:
"“I earned the right to be in closing lineups. Numbers would say, I don’t have to explain that. Like I said, once again, it ain’t my decision … Unfortunately, just gotta go with and figure it out the best I can and be there for my teammates as much as I can and make sure I come into work and do my job.”"
Los Angeles is currently somewhere in between a rock and a hard place with Westbrook. There’s not an exit in sight.
If Westbrook remains on the team past Thursday (which he likely will), the Lakers will be lucky to make it beyond the Play-In Tournament, if they even make it to that point.
The playoffs don’t start until two months and the Westbrook trade has already gone down as one of the worst in the history of the league. There’s still plenty of basketball left to be played. Buckle up, Los Angeles, it could get even uglier.