Lakers talking to Russell Westbrook on how to improve play next season, not bracing him for a trade

Says a third source close to the situation: Communications between Westbrook and the Lakers this offseason have taken the same tone as Ham’s public commentary. Which is to convey, insists the source, that the messaging has focused on ways to make Russell Westbrook’s second season as a Laker much better than the first rather than bracing him for a potential trade exit.
Source: Marc Stein @ marcstein.substack.com

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Marc Stein @TheSteinLine
The Lakers’ ICY launch in Las Vegas and all the latest on Russell Westbrook and LA’s Kyrie Irving trade prospects … all here via my latest This Week In Basketball column freshly dispatched worldwide: marcstein.substack.com/p/the-lakers-i… – 12:57 PM

Kyle Goon @kylegoon
Reporting from Las Vegas Summer League, where LeBron James and Russell Westbrook went to the same Lakers game but sat on opposite ends and did not approach each other while the public’s eyes were on them: ocregister.com/2022/07/08/lak… – 1:03 AM

Jovan Buha @jovanbuha
Russell Westbrook is here and sitting on the Lakers’ bench pic.twitter.com/yaL8CtoFtH – 10:46 PM

Eric Pincus @EricPincus
Latest @BleacherReport San Antonio Spurs May Hold Keys to a Kyrie Irving-Russell Westbrook Trade bleacherreport.com/articles/10041… – 3:07 AM

Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears
“I got a wholehearted plan, a clear plan on how I’m going to use him. I showed it to him, sat down, brought stuff up for him. I think he’s going to flourish,” new #Lakers coach Darvin Ham on Russell Westbrook. Ham also answers whether Russ will start. bit.ly/3nInkUf #nba – 10:26 AM

Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears
Darvin Ham is bringing his philosophy and a Saginaw toughness to the #Lakers. Former NBA player talks to @andscape about his long road to becoming a head coach, the challenge of coaching LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, and more. bit.ly/3nInkUf #nba – 8:44 AM

More on this storyline

League sources maintain that the Nets are A) focused on trying to assemble a palatable Kevin Durant trade before proceeding to Kyrie Irving scenarios and B) adamant in their resistance to taking back Russell Westbrook in a theoretical Irving swap without, for starters, some first-round draft compensation added by the Lakers. Westbrook, remember, is scheduled to earn nearly $11 million more than Irving next season, which would cost Brooklyn an additional $50 million once luxury-tax penalties are factored in according to a piece earlier this week from my Bleacher Report colleague Jake Fischer. -via marcstein.substack.com / July 9, 2022

Our latest around-the-league notes compilation leads off with the first hint of the awkwardness you can expect for LeBron James’ team if it is unable to trade Russell Westbrook this summer. When I chatted Thursday on Spotify Live with longtime Lakerland chronicler Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times, I asked BT to try to forecast how awkward Darvin Ham’s first training camp address to the team will be if Russell Westbrook is still a Laker in late September. -via marcstein.substack.com / July 9, 2022

I’d say we were promptly treated to a glimpse of how that tension might feel Friday night in Las Vegas during the Lakers’ summer league opener. Westbrook and LeBron James ended up in the same gym as spectators for the first half of the Lakers’ heavy loss to the Phoenix Suns’ summer squad … with Russ and Bron staying as far away from each other as possible until Westbrook’s apparent departure at intermission. My pal Kyle Goon from The Orange County Register, one of my beloved former employers, has a scene piece here with more specifics about all the luminaries James visited with — and the unmistakable distance he and Westbrook kept. -via marcstein.substack.com / July 9, 2022