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The Los Angeles Lakers will wrap up one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history on Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, and now we are getting some insight into why things went so poorly.
The star point guard had one of the worst seasons of his career in L.A. after coming over in a trade from the Washington Wizards. He had trouble adapting to Frank Vogel's system, and his issues began before the season started.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a Lakers staff member said that the ball was not shared with his teammates and that the ball was in the hands of Westbrook at all times.
Russ never respected Frank Vogel from the beginning, according to a staff member. Give the ball to me. Frank was like, "No, we have Talen and Austin." We have him. We have him. We have something. He said he was the point guard. Give me that. Everyone gets out the way.
In training camp, it was a wrap because Russ is out of water. He does not know what to do. That is how it started.
Even as he continued to struggle, his teammates would still give him the ball, even though he got his fair share of touches. He is shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 29.8 percent from deep in 78 games. He had averaged under 20 points per game since his second season in the NBA.
The teammates tried to give him some motivation. According to Ramona Shelburne, his teammates were trying to find a way to feed the beast and the front office was trying to get rid of him.
It appears the Lakers are trying to part ways with the man they tried to get rid of. The Charlotte Hornets have been named as a team to watch for the veteran guard because of his $47 million salary in 2022-23.
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