Lakers’ Russell Westbrook should learn from this Hall of Famer’s mistake, says NBA exec

The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten far more out of Russell Westbrook this season than was expected. While he still has his flaws and is really hard to play during crunch time, he has embraced his new sixth-man role and has played more efficiently in the minutes he has received.

Not only has Westbrook given the Lakers more than they expected but he has increased his value as well. Before the 2022-23 season, it was fair to legitimately ponder whether or not this was Westbrook’s last season in the league. He no longer was a superstar and seemingly still thought he was.

This season has proven that Westbrook is willing to adapt and that will likely land him a job after the season. However, he likely is not going to land any kind of starting job as his new team will covet him as a valuable bench piece.

And that is where Westbrook needs to accept the reality and take that role. This is not something that has been easily done in the past for other superstars and Westbrook can learn from previous Hall of Famers’ mistakes. An NBA executive recently compared Westbrook to Hall of Fame point guard Allen Iverson, who could not make this transition to being a valuable bench piece (h/t Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated).

"“If he’s willing to be a change-of-pace point guard, to play less minutes, to have defensive energy, top-tier teams are going to be interested in him this summer. The Iverson comparisons are fair. Allen could have played three or four more years if he had been willing to come off the bench. He would have had a field day against second units. Westbrook can do the same.”"

Russell Westbrook is at an identical point in his career with the Lakers as Allen Iverson was at the end of his career.

Russell Westbrook turned 34 shortly after the start of the 2022-23 season while Iverson’s was 34 in his last year in the league. Unlike Westbrook, Iverson was still in the starting lineup when he played. He started 24 of 28 games in the 2009-10 season, averaging 13.8 points and 4.0 assists per game.

Westbrook is getting two fewer minutes per game than Iverson got in his last year and is averaging 14.4 points and 7.6 assists. From a production standpoint, Russ is still filling up the box score and is producing more than Iverson was.

They are both similar as they are both negative players on the defensive end and they are best used in spurts. Iverson has family reasons to step away from the game during the 2009-10 season but if he would have accepted a smaller role, he definitely could have continued his career for another 3-4 years.

Instead, he signed internationally with Besiktas in the Turkish Super League and played in only 10 games before suffering an injury. That would be the last time that he played professional basketball.

Westbrook does not need to go down that path. He does not need to sign internationally and go join his former Lakers teammate Dwight Howard in Taiwan. If he is just willing to take fewer minutes, there are quite a few teams that would be willing to bring him in and extend his career another 3-4 seasons.

How the Clippers have massively helped the Lakers this season

The Los Angeles Lakers should be thanking the Los Angeles Clippers for making their season much easier than it otherwise would have been.

What Westbrook does is completely up to him. But if this is his last year in the NBA, just like Iverson, it will feel premature.