When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook this past offseason many openly wondered how he would fit alongside the existing roster.
As it turns out, the skeptics were right.
L.A. has been a disaster all year and will likely miss the playoffs altogether.
This week, Westbrook addressed a complicated topic: how hard it is for him to play well alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“Yeah, that’s the challenge,” Westbrook told Chris Haynes Yahoo Sports. “For me, I just got to find ways to be able to affect the game and figure out a way to be able to implement all of our guys so we can make a run, get into the playoffs and hopefully get a championship. My challenge as the point guard is to be able to implement everyone else, and I’ll try to do it the best way I can.”
Westbrook has been awful this year when playing alongside James and Davis. Historically bad. His own teammates are taking shots at him; rivals are disrespecting him; it hasn’t been pretty.
It’s a virtual guarantee that the Lakers will attempt to rid themselves of Westbrook and his contract this summer. But it is unclear who will actually step up to the table and take it off their hands.
In any case, it’s obvious now that everyone who doubted Westbrook’s fit alongside James and Davis was right. It was a terrible combination.
And it just goes to confirm that, sometimes, when something looks bad on paper, it’s lousy on the court as well.
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