Russell Westbrook and his Los Angeles Lakers suffered the 12th defeat of the season at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers last night. A new edition of the battle of Los Angeles found two struggling teams going at it, with the Clips ultimately winning the duel.
The rivalry between these two teams took a different meaning after the Clips landed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the summer of 2019, creating one of the best teams in the league at the time. However, nothing has changed for the Lakers, who still run Los Angeles, while the Clippers keep trying to reach the NBA Finals for the first time.
Before the Lakers and Clippers clashed at Staples Center, Russell Westbrook was asked about their rivalry, and he quickly shut down that notion. Growing up, Russ didn't see the games against the Clippers as a big matchup for the Lakers.
“No, I didn’t view anything as a rivalry. I was viewing my grades as my rivalry,” Westbrook said while laughing.
When a reporter followed-up, asking if that meant that he had a rivalry with math, Westbrook clarified that he was just fine at that subject, which makes sense given his astounding ability to rack up counting stats. It was another class that was his personal rival.
“Math? Nah, I killed math. It was me vs. biology, chemistry, that’s what I was worried about. I wasn’t worried about no Lakers or no Clippers, to be honest,” Westbrook said.
Russell Westbrook has anything but love for the Clippers. Ahead of Friday's night matchup, the player also stated he didn't have any interest in joining the Clippers after rumors suggested he tried to team up with Kawhi Leonard before The Klaw joined forces with Paul George.
In the offseason, the Washington Wizards GM dropped the idea of sending Russ to the Clips, but he declined again. There's no love between these two and Westbrook seems to enjoy that.
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