Despite Tuesday night being an evening of historic celebration for the Los Angles Lakers franchise, it seems the team’s poor play overall led to some drama at halftime of their eventual loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Yesterday, the focus of the NBA world was on the Crypto.com Arena as true sports history was on the brink of occurring. Future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Lebron James entered the matchup within closing distance of surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA all-time points-scoring list. In the end, the game was very much a microcosm of the Lakers’ season in 2022-2023.
James was stellar again as he became the new scoring king late in the third quarter, however, despite his efforts the Los Angeles Lakers still came up short and suffered their fourth loss in the last six games. Moving them two games out of a playoff spot.
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Certain players have made it known publicly that their 25-30 record is well below the standard they set for themselves to start the season, and it seems the frustration over their current state boiled over in a “heated exchange” between head coach Darvin Ham and Russell Westbrook at halftime.
Los Angeles Lakers’ frustration boiled over in loss to Oklahoma City Thunder
On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski revealed a moment that was lost in the shuffle of Lebron James’ historic night yesterday.
“Lakers [guard] Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the halftime locker room on Tuesday vs. OKC. Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of the game late in second quarter.”
– Adrian Wojnarowski
Wojnarowski noted in a follow-up Tweet that after some raised voices, the team and their coach did re-focus back on what was needed to win the game. Plus, the coach did go to his star guard late and was rewarded for it with a 14-point performance from the one-time NBA MVP in the fourth quarter.
With the NBA trade deadline just a day away, this surely may intensify the Los Angeles Lakers front office’s desire to do all it can to move the disgruntled star now. Something they have been attempting to get done since the summer.