Lakers’ Russell Westbrook is in a league of his own in this statistic

The 2021-22 season was the most disappointing in Los Angeles Lakers history. Los Angeles entered the season as championship favorites in the Western Conference and wound up missing the playoffs (and the play-in) entirely.

The main reason why this disappointment occurred was the team’s idea to trade for Russell Westbrook. Los Angeles gave up legitimate NBA assets to weaken its depth and limit its flexibility to add a former MVP to the roster that no other team was interested in trading for.

Despite the optimism after the trade, the outcome shouldn’t have been that surprising. Westbrook did not mesh well with the Lakers, who also dealt with injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James. It is hard not to think that the 2022-23 season will end up with the Lakers repeating this fate.

Some might be hoping for a change out of Westbrook (which would be foolish) that could result in better play out of the point guard. The problem is that Westbrook’s style of play simply clashes with what makes the Lakers successful.

Westbrook cannot shoot, significantly hurting the floor-spacing of the team. Not only can he not shoot, but Westbrook is literally in a league of his own when it comes to his three-point inefficiency. There is not another player in the entire league that is in the same ballpark as Russ.

To explain in layman’s terms, there is not a single player in the league that is left open as often as Westbrook is. It is not even close. Yet despite that, Westbrook still ranks as low as it gets in how often he makes three-point shots.

Anyone who watched the Los Angeles Lakers is not surprised by this Russell Westbrook stat.

Westbrook can get as close to a triple-double as he wants on the box score but none of those numbers matter if the team is not winning basketball games and the team is not winning basketball games for this reason.

Defenders can literally leave Westbrook to his own devices around the three-point line because they know he won’t make most of his shots. In turn, this adds more bodies to the paint and near the rim that only make life harder on Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and everyone else involved.

Davis has to suddenly space out his game and become a jump-shooter, which led to him being the worst jump-shooter in the league before getting hurt last season. Driving to the rim becomes harder for LeBron James as well, resulting in him living at the three-point line.

3 free-agent guards who would be better for the Lakers than Westbrook

If the Los Angeles Lakers have to tell Russell Westbrook to go home they can sign one of these free-agent guards to replace him.

Westbrook can only attack offenses in one way. He either clanks an open three, he drives and kicks, or he looks to finish at the rim. He is not someone to create his own shot and hit a jumper. There is no threat there.