LeBron James pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to make the Russell Westbrook trade during the 2021 offseason over the likes of the team signing DeMar DeRozan. That proved to be a terrible idea.
The Lakers’ attempt at a new “Big Three” failed miserably this past season. Los Angeles finished 33-49, 11th in the Western Conference and far out of the NBA playoff picture. A year later, the Lakers’ star seems more than ready to move on from Westbrook.
Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN recently reported that the relationship between Westbrook and LeBron as of now is described as “frosty” by those familiar with it.
Fans also remember Westbrook and LeBron sitting in a different section of the arena during the NBA summer league. Cameras never caught the two embracing each other.
On ESPN’s The Lowe Post podcast, NBA insider Dave Mcmenamin discussed the current situation in Los Angeles.
“It’s pretty darn clear that LeBron has seen enough and he has no interest going into another year with Russ as his teammate.”
Many people blamed Russell Westbrook for the Lakers’ disappointing performance last year. He averaged 18 points 7 assists and 7 rebounds with them. His numbers were fine but he was also considered erratic, impulsive, and turnover prone. Not to mention, no team in the league respected his jump shot at all and some even regularly let him shoot and prepared to get the rebound.
After LeBron James and Russell Westbrook couldn’t even look at each other in the gym at NBA Summer League, it was reported that all three of them would speak on the phone with each other.
“The Los Angeles Lakers’ Big 3 of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook huddled up on a phone conversation the first weekend of NBA Summer League in Las Vegas with each expressing their commitment to one another and vowing to make it work, league sources told Yahoo Sports.”
Even after that phone call, it has not slowed down rumors of the team trying to trade Westbrook.
