Russell Westbrook’s stint with the Los Angeles Lakers has not gone well, and it hit a new low point on Thursday night. Unfortunately, it seems like the former league MVP is out of touch with how bad it is getting.
Last season could not have gone much worse for the Lakers. Despite adding Westbrook’s All-Star talents to the superstar duo of Lebron James and Anthony Davis — two players that one a title together in 2020 — the team didn’t even reach the NBA play-in tournament earlier this year. Sure, injuries to their top players had an impact, but there was still enough talent on the team to at least be among the 12 best in the conference. Unfortunately, poor chemistry with Westbrook nullified any of that.
Heading into the 2022-2023 season there seemed to be renewed hope that things could be turned around under new head coach Darvin Ham. However, that’s already quickly unraveling after just two games for “Showtime.” On Tuesday, they opened the season with a dominant loss to the Golden State Warriors 123-109. On Thursday night they moved their record to 0-2 with another sad performance against the Clippers as the team shot 35.1%.
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What made matters even worse was a historically bad showing for Westbrook as he shot 0-11 from the field and managed just two points. It is the worst shooting night a Lakers player has had in 55 years. Yet it seems like the nine-time All-Star didn’t think it was so terrible.
Russell Westbrook on his 0-11 night in Los Angeles Lakers loss: ‘Uh, solid’
Following the defeat, Westbrook took part in a lockerroom media scrum and was asked about his and the team’s performance. In what seemed like a high-level moment of not taking accountability for being a key reason the Lakers lost, Westbrook kept it simple in his face-palm-inducing assessment.
“Uh, solid. Uh, played hard. That’s all you can ask for. Move on to the next one.”
Russell Westbrook on 0-11 performance
Westbrook has done little to endear himself to a fanbase that dubbed him “Westbrick” last season. These latest comments are sure to only add to the heat he will continue to face from the LA faithful unless he turns things around fast. An 0-11 performance and zero accountability are unacceptable for a player making $47 million this season.
- Russell Westbrook stats (2022): 10.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.5 APG, .304 FG%