It is pretty clear that the best version of the Los Angeles Lakers next season is a version without Russell Westbrook. The former MVP simply does not mix well with the team and even if the team cannot trade him this offseason, they are better off telling him to go home.
Westbrook obviously does not want to be in LA next season as he parted ways with his long-time agent over a disagreement about where he should play in the future. Russ wants out of LA while his agent thought staying was the best thing for him.
His agent obviously understands that whatever team is going to trade for him is just going to try and buy him out and not play him. At least with the Lakers, while they should send him home, Westbrook would at least get some playing time. That especially seems to be true with what Darvin Ham is saying about Westbrook this offseason.
In an interview with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the ‘All The Smoke‘ podcast, Ham said that Russell Westbrook is one of the things that got him excited about the Lakers job. Ham also explained that he and Westbrook have a great rapport and they have had great conversations.
https://twitter.com/shobasketball/status/1549399976987484163
Lakers fans should hate what Darvin Ham has to say about Russell Westbrook.
This is such a compelling answer from Ham as the Los Angeles Lakers are actively trying to shop Russell Westbrook while he actively does not want to be in Los Angeles. Of course, Ham is not going to go to the media and just slander Westbrook. There is professionalism that comes with the job and that is never going to happen.
However, it is interesting how in-depth Ham is going in defending Westbrook and his place on the Lakers next season. This almost feels like the internal belief in LA is that Westbrook is going to stick around, which is a nightmare for fans.
Expressing love to Westbrook in this manner publically is something that Ham is going to try and leverage into forming a better relationship and getting Westbrook to actually buy into changing his game. You have to handle Westbrook with kid gloves and that seems to be what Ham is doing here.
Either Ham is stretching the truth a fair amount about Westbrook to save face or he is out of touch with who Russ is a player at this point in time, which is an even scarier proposition. He is not a winning basketball player and he shows NBA fans time and time again that he won’t adapt and change his style.
Russell Westbrook is who he is and at this point in time, he is the main thing holding the Los Angeles Lakers back.