Has there ever been a player with as huge a disparity in their reputations with fans and peers than Russell Westbrook? The polarizing Los Angeles Lakers guard has drawn immense criticism for his reckless game and poor shot selection. But his teammates have shown nothing but love to the former MVP, including former Washington Wizards teammate Bradley Beal.

Beal, who averaged a career-best 31.3 points per game alongside Westbrook, went on JJ Redick's The Old Man and the Three podcast and showered the triple-double king with praise.

“He's an amazing teammate. He's the complete opposite of the picture everybody kind of paints him to be, at least character-wise,” Beal said, via ClutchPoints Twitter. “[If] you're his teammate, he rides for you. […] He loves his team. That's what he's all about.”

Russell Westbrook's lone season in DC was a memorable one. Westbrook posted the fourth season of his career averaging a triple-double with the Wizards, tallying 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 11.7 assists a night after a rough start to the season. He then proceeded to drag the razor-thin Wizards team to the postseason, only to lose in five games to the first-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

Despite a short stay with the Wizards, Bradley Beal is extremely appreciative of the culture of hard work Westbrook set in their locker room.

“I enjoy playing with him. […]  You would go hard in practice, pushing everybody… he pushed me. It's 82 games, man. You don't want to play every game. You know, you're tired, right? […] [But] to see his mindset, he's like, ‘No, let's go, B, let's go. Keep going, keep going.” And like, he's in the middle of a game, tired as I don't know what, and [he's still] pushing guys and encouraging guys, so that part of him is phenomenal,” Beal added.

Bradley Beal also revealed that while Westbrook's brand of leadership is not everyone's cup of tea, his combination with the much-maligned point guard was something that worked out well for both parties.

“He wants to make a mistake versus you making a mistake. He'd rather be mad in himself versus getting mad at you. […] He knew where I wanted the ball, where I liked it. I knew what he wanted to do and it just made it easy to play off of that.”

It remains to be seen if Russell Westbrook can make the requisite adjustments to fit better with the Lakers. One thing's for sure, there's more to Russ than meets the eye of the general public.