Lakers News: Former Russell Westbrook Teammate Thinks Russ Could Fall Out Of The League If His Poor Play Continues
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Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard (for now) Russell Westbrook has been quite an eye sore in his first three games for L.A. this season. Now, one of his own former teammates wonders if Westbrook, sure to be a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, is even an NBA-level player anymore.
Former 14-year NBA center Kendrick Perkins spent parts of five seasons playing alongside Westbrook with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 6'10", 270-pound big man was the club's starting center in 2011-12, when Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden led the franchise to its lone NBA Finals appearance since relocating from Seattle to Oklahoma.
Perk, now an ESPN personality, weighed in on "First Take" regarding Westbrook's brtal start to his second season with the Lakers.
"Is Russ's game declining? Hell yeah... Should Rob Pelinka have traded Russ this offseason? Hell yeah. So let's talk about the now. What are you gonna do now? ...You send him home until you find a place [where] somebody's gonna trade for him... Here's the sad part about it: right now [there are] no GMs in the league that [are] willing to take a chance on Russ and bring him into their locker room."
At this point, shutting down Westbrook until a trade can be worked out (where the Lakers' incredibly valuable 2027 and/or 2029 first round draft picks, not Westbrook, would be the key attribute in a deal for any rival GM) makes the most sense to this writer as well. Even then, would the team that receives Westbrook back in a trade actually keep him around, or would they figure out a buyout deal so that he could become a free agent and sign at or a near a veteran's minimum deal to serve as a change-of-pace bench player? Is there a club out there, somewhere, that would even be amenable to adding Westbrook as a bench piece, given how he's performed this year and his apparent reticence to be used that way for a struggling Lakers club?
Through three games for the Lakers this year (all defeats), Brodie is currently posting miserable averages of 10.3 points on a .289/.083/.800 slash line, during 28.7 minutes a game, as well as 4.3 assists (against 1.7 turnovers) and 2.0 steals. Several of those categories (scoring, field goal and three-point shooting, minutes and assists) represent career nadirs so far.
This marks a far cry from the 33-year-old's halcyon days with the Oklahoma City Thunder. During his 2016-17 MVP season, Westbrook averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 10.4 assists, and 1.6 steals a night, on .425/.343/.845 shooting splits. With Westbrook as the team's do-everything focal point, the club posted a 47-35 record, good for sixth place in the West, and fell in five games to former teammate James Harden's similarly heliocentric Houston Rockets during the playoff quarterfinals. Even at his peak, Westbrook was not good enough to will a team deep into the postseason on his own. Now, his mere presence on the floor may be actively hurting his own club's chances for success.
Westbrook's descent from MVP candidate into unwilling role player feels almost as brutal as the falls of former All-Star point guards Allen Iverson or Stephon Marbury. Both players refused to adjust their games to deal with their declining athleticism, and struggled in bench roles before falling out of the NBA much quicker than they needed to. Is Brodie on the same path? It sure feels that way.
