Following a fourth straight loss on Thursday night, Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook engaged in a back-and-forth conversation with a media member about the team’s poor play and if was a stark contrast to what he had hoped for entering the season.
The Lakers have lost seven of their last eight, and are sitting in the ninth spot in the Western Conference with a 27-35 record. The combination of Westbrook, Lebron James and Anthony Davis has been an unmitigated disaster in 2021-22. Their disappointing play has led to friction between James and the front office, and angry fans raining down boos at the Staples Center.
It led one member of the media on Thursday night to ask the former MVP if the team’s play was far from what he had envisioned when he was traded to L.A. in the offseason. This line of questioning seemed to bother the 33-year-old star.
“What did I envision? You said it, based on what I envisioned, I want to know what you think I envisioned,” Westbrook asked the media member.
When the reporter looked to expand on the thoughts behind his question — such as the boos from Lakers fans — the NBA star instead wanted a specific response on the original notion of his expectations at the start of the season.
"The season over? So what did you envision, since you spoke for me? I want to know what you thought I envisioned,” said Westbrook.
Eventually, Westbrook explained during his postgame press conference that he didn’t envision anything for this season. Being on his fourth team in four seasons, he no longer has grand hopes going into any given year.
“I had no expectations. See? That’s why you don’t know what I envisioned,” he said. “I had no expectations. I come into every situation the same. For the last four years, I’ve been on different teams, four times. So my envision of thinking everything is going to be peaches and cream — I don’t. That’s not realistic. That’s not life.”
Despite his claims, it does seem hard to believe that Westbrook didn’t expect the team to be playing better than they currently are. Even with a glass-half-full mentality, he has to be shocked by the team’s lack of chemistry and the fact that he is having one of the worst seasons of his storied career.
- Russell Westbrook stats (2021-22): 18.1 PPG, 7.7 REB, 7.3 AST
The Lakers return to the court Saturday to face the Golden State Warriors at home in L.A.
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