LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. But already, all eyes are on Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook, who was included in a three-team trade that sent D’Angelo Russell as well as Jarred Vandrbilt and Malik Beasley to the Los Angeles Lakers, is one of the most polarizing players in the NBA.
Fans were reminded why during Tuesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Near the end of the first half, the nine-time All-Star and former MVP refused to leave the court after he was subbed out by Lakers coach Darvin Ham.
According to league insider Adrian Wojnarowski, this exchange caused some tension between Ham and Westbrook (via ESPN):
“Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of the game late in the second quarter.
Voices were raised in the locker room, but discussion turned back to trying to win the game against the Thunder, sources said.
Ham closed the game with Westbrook, who had 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Ham and Westbrook dapped up before leaving the arena later in the night.”
It was a bizarre sequence of events that nearly caused a delay-of-game penalty for the Lakers before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was eventually able to actually take his free-throw attempts.
Westbrook refuses to leave the court after being subbed off for LeBron late in the second quarter pic.twitter.com/7qCgO2Cuae
— dave (@nbadaves) February 8, 2023
Even though Ham and Westbrook reportedly “dapped up” before leaving the arena and this seemed like a relatively common non-issue, perhaps this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Westbrook’s tenure in Los Angeles.
This was apparently a microcosm of a bigger issue for the franchise, per Jovan Buha (via The Athletic):
“There is an addition by subtraction element to the Lakers dealing Westbrook. The situation had become untenable over the past week or so, multiple team and league sources close to the situation told The Athletic. Both sides were ready to move on from a partnership that never really made sense to begin with.”
Less than three hours after Woj’s report about the raised voices in the locker room, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Lakers were involved in discussions for a three-team trade that would send Westbrook to the Jazz.
Before the night was over, the three-team trade reached an agreement. Now, the Jazz are expected to buy out the remainder of Westbrook’s contract.
We may never know if the exchange directly led to what may turn into the final game in Los Angeles for Westbrook, but the timing of the reports feels noteworthy — even though the Lakers have clearly been shopping Westbrook for quite some time.
The 2023 NBA trade deadline is scheduled for Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
