Russell Westbrook thought LeBron James was a phony

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were never a good fit on the court during their brief tenure together with the Los Angeles Lakers, and it has since become abundantly clear that the same was true away from the floor.

The relationship between James and Westbrook is one of the many topics that is covered in Yaron Weitzman’s new book “A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers,” which was published on Tuesday. Westbrook was with the Lakers for all of 2021-22 and traded midway through the following season, and Weitzman says the star point guard quickly grew tired of what he felt was phony behavior from LeBron.

Some of the tension between Westbrook and James stemmed from when LeBron wanted the Lakers to acquire Kyrie Irving, which would have only been possible if the team traded Westbrook. In the book, Weitzman shared a few different examples of instances where James got on Westbrook’s nerves.

Westbrook became frustrated that LeBron told the media things like “Let Russ be Russ” but did not support his teammate behind closed doors. Westbrook also was annoyed by some of the same things that have led to fans trolling LeBron, such as when the four-time NBA champion once pretended to be reading the autobiography of Malcolm X but could not discuss details about the book.

Then, there was the time award-winning actor Will Smith visited with the Lakers. According to Weitzman, James left the room when Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham told players they were going to go get Smith to have him speak to the team. LeBron supposedly said “y’all got this” and exited as if he were not interested in hearing from the special guest. Anthony Davis followed.

Westbrook questioned whether that meant everyone was going to leave. Lakers veteran Patrick Beverley told Westbrook the rest of the team had to stay and that LeBron and Davis can do whatever they want because they won an NBA title. That did not sit well with Westbrook.

Ham then went to get James and Davis, who returned to meet with Smith. LeBron supposedly dominated the conversation when Smith opened the floor to questions, and Westbrook was disgusted by what he felt was LeBron’s phony behavior. Weitzman says Westbrook later told a teammate “I hate that fake s—” and “I just can’t do it.”

There were numerous signs that Westbrook and James did not get along when they played together, but it sounds like Westbrook is even less of a fan of LeBron than many realized.