Some of those late Allen Iverson years were rough.

Playing in LA especially as a Laker there’s a microscope on players and their fans are ruthless. AD was putting up ²⁵⁄₁₀ and an elite 2 way player but that didn’t stop criticism. LBJ saved their franchise from being a joke and they don’t show him as much love as they do because Kobe. Luka gets criticized whenever he has a bad shooting game and they flip flop every other night on whether their trio can work.

The sad reality is the lakers fan base is huge and Russ underperformed and had a bad attitude which is why that narrative stuck with him after.

Yeah it was rough, hearing the crowd audibly moan every time he shot a jump shot was something I’ve never seen in basketball

He was still getting max money too so it stung extra hard for the lakers fans

OKC Melo and its not even close.

The chucking years of Kobe after he tore his achilles and injured his shoulder was not good for his legacy. It was painful to watch, especially considering Lakers thought it was a good idea to give him the biggest contract in the league when he ripped his achilles at 33. Was a legacy contract if there ever was one.

Yes. The westbrick names was so synonymous broadcasters were saying it. His kids were getting called Westbrick at school in la I’m sure he was hearing it when he shoots.,Bro just wanted a home to wrap up his career and keep his family in one spot.. that city said helll no. Idk if another city beats him down as bad as la does

it’s not unique. LA spotlight + bad fit + decline all hit at once. perfect storm for people to rewrite his whole career.

I think the revisionist history on Dwight was the most egregious. His resume was tremendous (multiple dpoy, all nba selections)

It culminated in the top 75 snub

Garnett and Pierce didn’t exactly finish strong with the Nets. Steve Nash with the Lakers went from “this is going to be fun” to a trainwreck in less than a week. Loul Deng when he got overpaid by Mitch Kupchak and Jimmy Buss. Then there’s also Bradley Beal and Paul George quite recently.

Bradley Beal Suns.

Dwight Howard. He should be and would have been in the top 75, if not the latter part of his career.

Celtics Shaq? It’s probably one of the most damaging ones for someone who went on to keep playing for more years.

I can remember reading articles calling out MJ when he came back with the wizards.

Specifically how he was doing anything except proving he was unable of accepting his age and that the average man finally had something over on him: the ability to age gracefully.

I think I was about 14 at the time. I’m 41 now so…. I have different thoughts on the matter

Idk if we can say he was past his peak. In the season prior to us, he averaged a triple double with Wizards, this was fourth such time in his career. He was the highest paid guy on our team, and had 6-7 turnovers on many nights. Within a year or two, he was unplayable but you had to do that given the pay he was getting.

Really the only cope for me those days were following AR’s trajectory, AD locking up our defense single handedly because we had traded away ours for Westbrook and didn’t resign Caruso, and a couple times games where Brody looked like himself. One of the worst years I’ve had as a Lakers fan.

I think we’re looking at this contemporaneously. In 15 years this won’t be discussed and his peak is what he’ll be remembered for, just like every aging superstar through NBA history. 

Dwight Howard was dragged worse.

Westbrook had put up great numbers for years and had been on some great teams. But after a while, people started to wonder if his impressive numbers were just empty stats. After failing to win in Houston alongside James Harden, his value was already in question as a teammate. In Washington, he didn’t change the Wizards’ culture much, but he did average another Triple-Double and was looking individually impressive again. Then he went to the Lakers to team up with LeBron, who had taken a lot of superstars and turned them into champions– but Westbrook didn’t seem to fit in. That just cemented the questions already hovering around Westbrook’s legacy; it wasn’t just because of one season.

This conversation started about Westbrook during the rocket year

Westbrook kind of brought it on himself with that contract. He was the highest paid guy on the team and still like top-5 in the league at the time I think. Of course that’s going to have huge expectations. Nobody would have cared if he was on a min.

I think the answer is pretty clearly Dwight Howard.

Westbrook was already declining and although he put up fantastic box score scoring, rebounding, and assist numbers in Washington, he was just not as good anymore.

This all just become very apparent in LA along with being a terrible fit with LeBron as LeBron was nearly ready to play without the ball. And Westbrook couldn’t.

IT when he went to Cleveland

this happens to all his teammates eventually. i’ve had conversations with bron stans where they unironically say that wade (a HOFer btw) and bosh were trash and thus the heatles weren’t a superteam. i’m not joking

The whole reason it hurt his rep so much, is because his fans were still acting like he was in prime. People forget that wizards Russ had a lot of fanboys, and that pundits were acting like Russ was going to be a valuable 3rd star. Ofc if there are expectations like that it would be bad looks when you are, by some metrics, the worst player in the entire league.

Magic Johnson had a very interesting comeback season as an above average PF.

Going from top 2 in the league to a rich man’s Boris Diaw is a fallout on court. But his reputation took a bigger hit with The Lakers due to off court arguments, which put him back into retirement.

Shawn Kemp is a sad answer to the question, self-inflicted but still.

David Thompson went from MJ’s hero to a drug addled washout (before he turned 30).

The Ewing theory also deserves a shoutout, essentially saying “yeah you’re washed and the numbers are ok but the team is better without you”

his production isnt the bad part, his contract was

To be fair, I was saying all that about him long before his Lakers season. So it isn’t revisionist history to me. He absolutely did not deserve that MVP.

Westbrook was bad, but I’d argue Houston Carmelo Anthony was worse. He was a legitimately great player in his peak, but didn’t evolve his game to match the analytics era. Similar to Westbrook, he just couldn’t conform to a new system and his fall afterwards was further than Westbrooks was after his stint with LA.

Yes. 

This question very much hinges on your definition and others’ interpretation of “objectively far past their peak”.

The season prior to LA Westbrook averaged 22-12-12, arguably his best statistical season. The season prior to that he played very well in Houston. Prior to that he was still in OKC and had averaged a triple double with 20+ PPG for 3 consecutive seasons.

I’d argue people viewed the LA season as Westbrook’s official “transition” / “decline” season.

A season? I think every single year after OKC traded that albatross contract was detrimental to his reputation.

I think Westbrooks career as a whole is what damaged his reputation. I havent seen any change in opinion on him due to any individual season.

Dude was crazy athletic, inefficient, elite passer, triple double machine, that liked to statpad. Very good PG for a long time, but doesn’t really come close to the elite all time greats.

Don’t forget Lakers Karl Malone and Lakers Steve Nash

That’s two free throws for SGA

Its non issue no one will really hold laker years against him when its said an done.

He just got more criticism because he was in the leagues biggest market playing alongside who many consider GOAT

No because Westbrook was still really good for most of his career. I think a better example would be Kevin love he went from a top 5 player to a role player with Cleveland.

I mean Dwight Howard’s reputation tarnished after he left Orlando. But that was over multiple seasons. 

Deadass people still like to tarnish KD after his nets stint

People in LA specifically are in such a bubble. I don’t think many people give a shit at all about him getting older and not being able to do what he used to do. Westbrook is a fucking legend.

Karl Malone.

People were still screaming in every corner of the internet that he was some awesome player. That’s a big part of the scrutiny. People weren’t acting like it was his decline.

Also “always terrible” is an insane take on Russ, but 2017 MVP is also trash. Pure narrative win.

Nah, Westbrook was “past his peak” forse a legit while then, only delusional Russ stans, which are crazy loud and numerous neglected this, and general fans only realised Russ was shit when nationally televised more…

Tbh I’m really surprised Russ lasted so long in the league while having all the wrong attributes a modern players should have: inefficient, high turn over rates, bad shooter, mediocre defender, questionable BBIQ… should be in Shanghai the past 3 years.

His game and reputation was long gone when he arrived in LA

I would call that a knock on Lebron more than on Westbrook. People saw in real time LeGm at work as the lakers had a deal in place for Buddy Heild and Demar Derozan. Demar even said he thought it was a done deal. He thought he was a laker. But Lebron vetoed it cause he wanted Westbrook instead. Then he scapegoated Russ when, if you look at his numbers, Westbrook actually had a better season with the lakers than he did with the wizards the previous year. His turnovers were way down too. And the fact of the matter is, Westbrook played. The real reason for the lakers problems that year was AD and Lebron couldn’t stay on the floor. But it was Westbrook that got blamed. Anyone paying attention would have put that mess on Lebron, not Westbrook. He was the player they traded for. Came over and played better and was also forced to not play his natural position. Westbrook plays with the ball in his hand, but that’s Lebron’s job, so he was relegated to off the ball a lot, which isn’t what you get Westbrook to do. It was a bad fit from the start, and that was LeGm’s call. It’s on him.