[Highlight] On the day LeBron James broke the all-time scoring record, Russell Westbrook refused to sub out of the game for him
westbrook on the lakers was one of the most miserable experiences i’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. The team hated him. He hated the team. The Lakers fans haters Westbrook and the Westbrook fans hated lakers fans
Tbf, who could have predicted such a bad fit? (Other than literally everybody besides the parties involved)
I don’t think people expected him to be THAT washed. I know people get upset about LeBron/AD/Rob getting him, but at some point the onus has to be on Russ as a hall of fame player to flatly be better than arguably the worst starting player in the NBA
Cause that’s what he played like during large stretches
Russ wasn’t washed. He just fundamentally didn’t fit the Lakers. He needs the ball. But he’s not going to get it when LeBron is on the floor. Lebron needed spacing and shooting, but he wasn’t going to get that with Russ on the floor.
It was an idiotic fit no matter how you look at it.
He wasn’t good with the ball in his hands either. It’s not like they forced them to play at the same time, he literally got subbed out FOR Lebron in this clip.
It didn’t matter who else he was playing with, I can count on one hand the number of good games he played in a Lakers jersey. The fit could have been better sure, but for a hall of famer he was complete ass
That because older players that remain valuable are shooters (besides LeBron the freak of nature). Russ’s whole game has always been athleticism and he’s always been ass as a shooter. If you can’t be nearly automatic as a spot up shooter at that age, you’re basically Russ in LA (worthless),
He was washed. Saying he wasn’t the right fit is like, which of the last 8 teams he’s played on was he the right fit? lmao. cmon man. at some point you gotta just look at the problem being Russ and not every other team…
Good fit with the nuggets as a high energy 6th
why did they let him go then?
Westbrook declined his player option
He left
Really wish we had him this past year instead of Bruce.
He had really good chemistry with Jokic too. I do remember his productivity dipping in the playoffs though.
Naw he frequently wouldn’t jump high enough and would miss uncontested dunks, he often lost his handle on his own during fastbreaks and turned it over, countless times he threw cross court passes 10 feet over teammates. I watched a lot of Lakers games that season, it was miserable lol
People are going to say “he was declining” but you are 100% correct. Westbrook averaged 15/5/5 last year on what I am going to assume was bad efficiency and it’s been years since he was a Laker where he probably could have played like he has historically. The problem is they are fundamentally almost diametrically opposite players who both need the ball and Westbrook refuses to change.
Literally the worst guard to put next to Lebron. They both require the same spacing. This dude won with DWade and Kyrie Irving, both elite slashers who knew how to get off the ball. I hope he goes to Philly for this reason, it will be hilarious.
Really the thing that made it a terrible fit is that Russ is so hard-headed that he wouldn’t change his play style, even for the guy who’s in the GOAT convo. Idk how LeBron didn’t see that coming though
The guy has one style, lol. It’s not a subtle thing either. The whole point you’d get him is for that style.
Shumpert summarized it pretty well. https://youtube.com/shorts/zw-UlphkgfI?is=NpnM7tz7PIdfzjLZ
Russ was never the kinda guy to be hyper efficient, but they basically forced it on him. He tried but it was so bad, very clearly wasnt what he’d spent his whole career doing lol. He was never a player to hit jumpers at a high percentage.
By the time he’s started getting his confidence back he’s now late 30s, and you can tell he’s not as explosive as he’s gotten older. His game won’t work at this age as well as it used to. He plays with so much heart and love for the game, I hope he ends up coaching or something to help guys learn that.
He came off the bench for his next two teams but he wasn’t washed?
He should have come off the bench for the Lakers. Not starting doesn’t make you washed it was just dumb stubborn coaching trying to force a fit and poor GM work because there wasn’t any talent worth playing over him.
I mean going from hall of fame point guard to 6th man is kinda washed, it’s just a mean way to put it lol
that’s kind of a weird thing tho, technically lebron’s washed too
still better then half the league
He was declining in the years leading up to the trade though
The year before he averaged 22/11/11 and finished 11th in MVP voting.
literally unplayable
The Lakers already got a good look at Westbrook when they faced the Rockets in the bubble playoffs, and part of the strategy was kinda just let Russ go wild and shoot the Rockets out of games if he so wished
I don’t know what the fuck they were expecting, his 16⁄17 MVP season was the only season he even got remotely close to being league-average from 3pt range when he shot 34% from deep which still isn’t very good.
He was washed ever since the lakers he’s just been a vet min guy. Clippers / nuggets / kings.
True but he already was really washed on the Rockets despite the 5 out spacing. Putting him on a team with no spacing is wild af
Scheme and fit aside, he was horrific on the Lakers and far worse than he was on the Wizards.
Every game he’d miss layups, commit the stupidest turnovers, take terrible shots, and not try on defense.
Yeah, people seem to always gloss over this fact when we had to watch this garbage for a year and a half. It wasn’t just a fit issue; that’s like Richard Jefferson on the Spurs in the late 00s. Westbrook was legitimately terrible at just about everything on the floor. I’ve never seen anyone that hapless on offense except randos at a pickup game once in a while.
Any time he touched the ball you had to brace yourself for a failed possession in some way. It was a miracle when we actually got something positive out of it.
Even in his prime he’d give you a few of those possessions a game. He had so much talent that he just didn’t need to be that high IQ of a player to dominate. But if you only watched his lowlights you’d never understand how he could win an MVP, or even start in the NBA
But you’d sure understand how he never won a title, or managed to stay on a team through a full contract after the Thunder
Nah he was not washed with the Rockets lol. He wasn’t prime Russ, but he was still a good player during that time
He showed signs with the Wizards, then turned it around to end the year and it looked like he was still a positive player
Not at all - the fit was horrible and he had poor numbers in Houston until Capela got hurt and they went with the Tucker-at-center lineups. From the midpoint on, he was like 30-9-9 with over 50% FGs. The real problem with him at that point is that his defense, FT shooting, and percentage of shots at the rim all plummeted unless he was a solo ball handler surrounded by spacers. Because the same thing happened in Washington: Beal got hurt, then Russ got to be the primary ball handler and carried that team to the playoffs.
In LA, even the biggest Westbrook fans (of which I admittedly am) knew he was going to be awful because he would be the third option on offense. There was no fit, and his defense was terrible, so he could only inefficiently chuck. It’s why he works best as a floor raiser but is a truly atrocious complementary piece.
what? no he wasn’t, he was fucking crazy on that Rockets team.
Guards who rely on athleticism never age well. Look at Ja Morant right now. If you’re that small, once your past your physical peak the game catches up quick. Even quicker if you throw a couple injuries in.
When you look at russ stats in his lakers year, they are pretty similar to his averages the previous years.
He was solid for us 🤷
Even if he wasn’t washed tho, he’s a high usage ball dominant guard taking possession away from one of the great offensive decision makers in the history of basketball lol
he was never good
Ik he’s shooting was bad but I was expecting him and AD to have a great on court relationship
The day we traded for Westbrook I was beside myself. I moaned to all my Laker friends that our championship window was shut and that we would be awful. Some of them agreed but many were like “dude he is amazing we are gonna be so good, new big 3!” It really showed me who actually watched and understood ball.
Hearing Bill Macdonald yell “NOOO!!!” on commentary when Westbrook took a 3 late in the fourth with time still on the shotclock will never not be funny to me.
Lmao I remember when the ENTIRE STADIUM was yelling “No Russ!!” when he had an open corner 3 during the game too
I was there!! I was at the game man it was so embarrassing. Dude in front of me yelled it so loud as well, it was really rock bottom for Westbrook.
The only experience where I felt bad for an opposing player was at a niners v cowboys game. It was the game Kittle scored three times a couple years back and we beat the shit out of them by like 30 on Sunday night football.
The cowboys had their backup QB in and the crowd started chanting “We Want Trey!”, as in we wanted the cowboys to put in our former number 1 draft pick so our line could fuck him up.
It was an insane level of very specific bullying at a live sporting event.
I remember that game, had a girl in the FF league and she drafted both kelce and kittle , and flexed kittle that week only because she saw it was his 30th birthday.. it was her first year and she had crazy luck, had 3 qbs and drafted the rest of her team based on the their smile and started players for the most crazy reasons, averaged something like 140-150 a game ppr and curb stomped the league and took 2nd.
Damn I need that clip hahaha
Think I found it. lol
It’s not that one, and I might be conflating that instance with the one I was actually thinking of. It was a midrange jumper, not a three.
I wish that clip showed the time and score. It was even worse in context
A day that will forever live in infamy for Lakers fans and when even the reddit idiots who know nothing admitted that Russ made a bad play instead of blaming Lakers fans for thinking he’s the worst
By then everyone wanted out. Lakers FO wanted Russ out, Laker fans wanted Russ out, and Russ wanted out of the Lakers.
But this was so memorable to me because I just remember thinking, “Damn, they ain’t even trying to fake that things aren’t a disaster” when it happened. Bill and Stu aren’t homers but they’re fairly soft on their criticism of our players. For Bill to flat out yell “NO” to a supposedly third option guy with MVP credentials for to taking a wide open midrange shot was wild to me.
He’s one of my favorite players ever. I hate how his time in LA went.
Never seen a player brick so many shots that bad as Westbrook did on the Lakers. The amount of airballs was crazy.
Being the player most known for bricking should say enough about the stint
Oh prime russ ill never forget you but wow
it was night and day. his prime MVP season, you knew the ball was going in when he shot it.
during his lakers stint, it was a 50⁄50 if it was even going to hit the rim. and even then, it could be a swoosh or it could be hitting a front row fan.
He wasn’t a sniper even in his prime. But he at least had a middy (and could shoot free throws for part of said prime).
He had nothing for us. Never wanted to trade for him and absolutely hated watching him in a Lakers uniform.
when they announced the trade i was like “holy shit, that’s either amazing or horrible, no in-between” and i can’t believe i was right. i figured Russ and Lebron could make it work, but they just didn’t gel at all.
The former is not the case at all lol his FG% was 42% his MVP year. Just trash. Revisionist history mate. Dude’s always been a brick show
What??(westbrook face). His prime his shot was still awful. He had moments but he was always high in the discussion for whose game would age badly when their athleticism went down.
You abaolutely did not know it was going in during his prime. He was never even an average shooter. His best 3pt season was 34% and was never above average in mid range. He was good at free throws for a while, that’s true, but almost all of his offensive value came from relentless rim pressure and the playmaking that came from that.
On top of his rock bottom basketball IQ and terrible ball handling while he was on the team. It was a miserable experience watching him play for the Lakers.
Yeah, that’s been basically my whole experience watching him play… I know he was better when he was younger … But I didn’t know he had COVID or anything about any of his injuries. Just that he sucked.
Damn I feel old
During that time, his handle was terrible too, and he couldn’t read the court. It almost looked on purpose.
Super weird, Russ was always a below average 3 point shooter, but he was never a “just a leave him wide open, we want him to shoot”.
And on the Lakers it wasn’t just 3s, he started blowing layups too.
I loved his “competitiveness” before he joined the Lakers. Then I realized it was narcissism.
He was always a stat padder. Pathetic to miss on purpose to grab rebound for a triple double. Only time he was fun to watch was on that crazy stacked UCLA team and they still couldn’t win
He was always a stat padder.
No no you don’t understand! His teammates boxed out for him to get the rebound so he can start a fast break himself from under the rim! It was just good strategy!
It’s crazy how immature and delusional he still was at that stage.
He got passed around like a hot potato after OKC and considered the worst contract in the NBA.
Then, he ends up on the Lakers, with LeBron and AD, two players who are light years better than him at everything, and Westbrook refused to adapt. He wanted to prove he was still in that superstar tier.
He had zero self-awareness and refused to accept he was a role player that isn’t getting paid like a star ever again.
He didn’t want to win. He just wanted his.
One of the funniest clips in my NBA memory came out of it… sadly it cost us a hall of fame coach in Frank Vogel.
https://youtube.com/shorts/afn-RKgf9R0?si=TWPl_VtFeImKSYBm
Same dude , was hoping for the best when he came to us and it’s unfortunate we got the worst possible outcome from the situation
Would’ve been smoother if he wasn’t on that still big contract at the time.
And accepted a reduced role more inline with his declining ability.
Win, Lose , Draw, just keep having fun guys, just have fun.
Wizards legend
Kings icon
Jazz god.
Ik its in jest but he was actually cooking for us, probably his last good basketball
Yeah he was fun here
yeah it was Great!
We called him Count Brickula for a reason
Russ wasn’t the problem it’s that AD and Bron played a combined 20 games in the 2 years Russ was there
How are they supposed to win with post prime Russ and wenyen Gabriel
no one can play under that kind of pressure. can’t believe his team threw him under the bus like that.
Even the Lakers commentators were getting sick of his shit; you can hear it here.
“I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul”
YOU WONT BRICK MY SOUL YOU WONT BRICK MY SOUUUUL
You mean u/MITWestbrook hates the Lakers and their fans?
https://streamable.com/ej01qo
Here he is refusing to sit down even while the FT is finally being taken.
Context:
Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the locker room during halftime of Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, sources told ESPN. Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of the game late in second quarter.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the locker room during halftime of Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, sources told ESPN.
Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of the game late in second quarter.
[removed]
It was a typical westbrick move.
Woah woah woah. Calling him that is tantamount to calling him a racial slur so I would watch your language mister!
very westbricky of him
He’s an immature bum and that’s just part of the long list of character flaws that have prevented him from winning a ring. I will forever dislike Russell Westbrook and it’s funny because enough time has passed where some people try an act like it wasn’t his fault on the lakers lol na dude was air balling layups and consistently hitting the side of the backboard, that’s not on anybody except for him.
And when the first season of him being here ended, I will never forget how he threw LeBron, AD and the coach under the bus for his shitty season during his exit interview. He’s from LA but trust me your average person in LA can’t stand the motherfucker
Refs shoulda just T’d his ass up and gave him the attention he wanted.
Wild thing was, Ham was brought in specifically to manage Russ, since he was seen as this up and coming player’s coach, whereas Vogel couldn’t at all handle the personalities involved with the team as it was built.
That comment about Vogel is quite literally the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life 😭the lakers don’t deserve a good coach ever again
the Lakers have burned so many bridges during Jeannie’s ownership.. it’s insane
They told the media they fired Vogel before telling him lmao, dude found out in the exit interview
But it true. Vogel couldn’t handle the suns locker room either. He works best with professionals
Wtf
I thought the ref was running over to push him off the court lol
Sucka shit, grown ass man throwing a tantrum
Pockets the Clown standing there with his hands where else
Darvin Ham is 6’7 probably wanted to beat his ass lol
This is some shit my toddler would pull lol.
Can’t be true, I was told he was a model teammate and Lakers were the bad guys all along
The Westbrook trade was what slammed the window shut for the Bron/AD era. If only Rob had the balls to tell them no
Yes dude, the westbrook trade is why.
Definitely wasn’t:
- Letting Caruso go for nothing after offering a discount - Missing on two straight 1st round picks - Throwing every second rounder for rentals - Missing on like 4 straight MLE’s (iirc all of them are out of the league) - Not making a single significant trade post Westbrook (outside of Luka) - Not a single trade in the off-season and instead doing it at the trade deadline so he could say all summer “we believe we need to see more from the group last season before making significant changes” - Holding on to Ham past the summer when AD straight up said “We don’t know what we’re doing out there” in playoff post game conference - Surrounding the Westbrook lakers with literally nothing but small combo guards who were either Undrafted, g leaguers, or on their way out of the league.
But you’re right. The Westbrook trade is definitely the main reason the lakers repeatedly fell short for like 4 straight years after the fact /s
Don’t forget AD averaging like 40 games per season after the bubble.
None of what you’re saying I disagree with lol. The Russ trade started the decline though. Rob has done a terrible job at roster construction and asset management
Homie fighting air
of course there’s multiple reasons. but trading one of the main defensive guards (other than letting the other one go for THT) for a supposed “star” player who was so out of place and absolutely didn’t help us, to chase the “big 3” pipe dream.. that was a shit move
Love how most of that reasons can be summarized in one word. THT.
The Westbrook trade was what slammed the window shut
OP literally states it wasn’t just the Westbrook trade that formed their opinion, but it made their opinion. That’s why they say “slammed the window” and not “closed the window.”
This is true….. but they literally reached the WCF the minute they traded him
I know everyone clowns “close sweeps”, but they were leading the Nuggets the vast majority of that series and then just couldn’t finish the job Ala Spurs vs Knicks
i still jerk off to these moral victories
analytical wins
Kenny Atkinson approves.
they found the answer to jokic for game2
Reaching the WCF was impressive, particularly because they were a 7 seed, but I’m still pretty doubtful that they had any real chance of winning that series. Doesn’t detract from their accomplishment, but I think their window was just about shut at that point already. The Blazers had a similar experience in their 2019 WCF run — led the Warriors in I think 3 out of 4 games for sizable chunks of time, but nobody, including myself, realistically thought they were winning that series regardless.
And that shows how bad the trade was. Wasted years of AD/Bron for this and gave up better assets than we had afterwards obviously. We got to the WCF, not because of the addition of D’lo, but simply due to the lack of Westbrook. We should’ve had legit shots at chips in 22 and 23 without Russ.
It’s definitely the icing on the cake.
LOLLLLLL
Got room for one more ?
Should change the title to “HIGHLIGHT: SGA with his signature move while LeBron subs in”
His last game as a Laker
And then his first as a Clipper was that 176-175 2OT game against the Kings, insane last and first games.
LeBron broke the all time scoring record? SGA to the line.
Of course SGA is at the line while this was happening lol. I know the Lakers get favorable calls at the line too but this is just funny
SGA was at the free throw line when the second plane hit
9⁄11 was his fta before the second half
2 towers, 2 planes, 2 SGA Free Throws
Early SGA at the line sighting. If only we knew what a monster was being created.
Umm… SGA averaged a career high 10.9 FTA in 2022-23 season.
Thank you. I swear people didn’t start complaining about his free throws untill the Thunder got good.
Most don’t actually watch. Then or now. They all just parrot what they see on TikTok or Twitter
tiktok just made it bigger though lol
TikTok is mental illness
Don’t even like OKC, but this is so true.
Multiple times these past two playoffs i’d hear friends and coworkers shit on SGA and the Thunder. The day after games, I’d ask, “Did you watch the game?” and mfs would almost always give the same answer, “No. But blah blah blah Instagram blah blah blah Tiktok.”
Like if you hate them as a fan of basketball, that’s normal. But you hate them and you don’t even actually watch? C’mon bro.
Side note about Tiktok fandom in general, but it always seems like the most casual of casuals. Music, anime, video games, etc. doesn’t matter.
It’s for people who have 0 attention span and are unable to process their own thoughts. Brainrot for the lowest of IQ individuals. That goes for everything on TikTok not just NBA.
One tell-tale sign that I caught earlier was the way people pronounce his name. The man is 2 MVPs and a championship deep. If you are pronouncing his name “Shy”, it’s because you’re not watching games.
Yea but you have to factor in that he wasn’t even “spooky” yet. It only matters when you win
Exactly, that was the year it popped off.
This was a very entertaining season
Not for us lmao
Such a good teammate
Lakers were must-see-TV when they had Russ.
legendary season
closest thing to a clown show i ever seen in pro sports lol
some of those games where hed the backboard so far from the rim, just fucking funniest shit i ever seen in sports lol
“It ain’t my minutes? … It ain’t my minutes?! … It’s my minutes, ain’t it?! It’s my minutes! Hey! It’s my minutes!”
Westbrook is a petulant man-child.
Don’t say this to his face or he’ll get you banned from the arena.
No doubt! Exactly what a petulant man-child would do in the situation.
Funny, but it’s more like don’t be chirping racist shit at him
“Westbrick” has nothing to do with race.
Wtf is this random Westbrook slander tirade the sub is apparently on?
Because he’s blatantly not a winning player.
When haven’t they been on it?
It went quiet for a bit
Rumors of him getting out of basketball purgatory and onto a decent team so they gotta fire the hate machine back up.
Great camera work
I obviously know about the SGA memes, but I find it funny how there tends to be a common SGA taking a ft regimen even from 2022 lol
He was shooting 11 FTs a game that year and nobody gave a fuck lol, at that time the guy who had the free throw merchant tag was Luka. Just further proves that you inherit those bullshit narratives once you’re at the top of your position
I agree.
I don’t honestly care about the ft shit that people get mad about when it comes to him. He’s balling at the end of the day and he has proven himself to be a winning player. All that matters.
I like how he’s also one of those breed of players that was generational at the midrange. 90s was MJ, 2000s was Kobe, and 2010s was KD. Now it’s SGA.
No surprise look who’s at the line 🫣
Westbrook made watching Lakers basketball miserable. You just knew he was liable to fuck up any given possession with one of the following:
I have never seen a player with a larger fall from grace. Once his athleticism started to wane, that lack of basketball IQ came through in a big way with how clueless and ineffective he was almost every night. LeBron even ceded the role of primary playmaker to him through Christmas that first season and took a role mostly off-ball when they shared the floor and it didn’t make a difference.
It’s no coincidence that we vastly improved once he was off the team. He had a massive ego for someone that was terrible at playing winning basketball. Trading for him was an all-time blunder.
All around awful player. Dumb and unserious. Needed to sit the fk down on the bench
Dudes always been an emotionally stunted person.
A clip that doesn’t at-all have to do with Shai at the free-throw line, and yet he appears there anyway?
Not surprising
Westbrook will likely always be my least favorite Laker ever. And I thought that was impossible after having to watch Kwamayyy Brown
And there will be delusional Westbrook fans that claim he wasn’t the problem. Fucking clowns
Russ had 27-4-8 off the bench on 10-19 shooting btw
They had Shroder and Pat Bev starting over him
One of the most overrated players of all time. His triple double seasons didn’t result in much winning, just stat padding.
There are plenty of hall of famers without rings.
Westbrick Westbrick that’s my name
He was always a clown, for us!
Name a worst trade than westbrick lakers in terms of fit…
I swear to god it’s the worst trade in nba history. The guy was making 50M (1/3rd of the cap) while sabotaging the team on the floor and locker room
Title favourites to not making playoffs
Russ has always been a bitchass
this sub is on a rampage
I used to hate Russ but now I hope he can get help.
Of course SGA is shooting free throws in this clip
Lakers trading for Westbrook was the beginning of the end of LeBron as a laker.
Who was worse lakers Westbrook vs 2026 playoff fox ? Battle of max contract bums
They need to investigate Fox omfg
All ego lmao
Dude was playing terrible and thought he should be treated like a HOF player in their prime. Westbrick lol
And when we told everyone that he was awful, people were quick to jump and act like we were being blasphemous
I hate Westbrick for life for the bullshit he displayed on the Lakers.
Someone please ELi5 why Westbrook was problem and didn’t work?
Just an absolute dickhead. Gee golly I wonder why you haven’t won shit because you’re a fucking clown
More so than the fit concerns, Westbrook’s game just about completely deserted him during that time.
He wasn’t exactly efficient in Washington but you figured with less load he could pick his spots. Nope. Just a future Hall of Famer playing like he belonged towards the end of the bench.
Like yeah not a well-constructed team. But at a certain point a guy is just playing like a bum regardless of who was on the court with him.
of course shai is shooting free throws
I knew it was a terrible pairing immediately. Both he and Harden became egomaniacs that crippled their team’s chemistry. Both showed out huge in the regular season, but couldn’t drag their team to the promised land in the playoffs because they ran too much through them.
He was fine on the Wizards lol