Russell Westbrook came out with some contentious comments following the Los Angeles Lakers' opening-night loss to the Golden State Warriors. The former league MVP pretty much blamed his recent hamstring injury on the fact that he was forced to come off the bench in LA's preseason matchup against the Sacramento Kings — something that he isn't used to doing throughout his whole NBA career.

For NBA analyst Richard Jefferson, it's all crystal clear. Jefferson firmly believes that Westbrook is sending a message to LeBron James and the Lakers with his recent statement here (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):

“He was sending a message that, ‘If you guys try and do this, this is what's gonna go down,'” Jefferson said. “Like, ‘Oh, my hamstring's hurt. If I'm not starting and I'm probable, then I won't be there to start the season.' And then it becomes this distraction.”

Is Jefferson right? Is this going to be a trend for Westbrook throughout the season if head coach Darvin Ham opts to have him come off the bench?

For what it's worth, Westbrook started on Tuesday against the Warriors, and he wasn't actually all that bad. Russ finished with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double with three assists, a steal, and a 3-pointer in 31 minutes of action. Then again, the Lakers lost by 14 points after being down by more than 20 at one point.

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To be fair, Jefferson did say that he thinks this entire situation isn't “fair” for Westbrook given that he doesn't have the necessary tools to succeed with the Lakers. Nevertheless, RJ still had a stern message for Russ amid his antics:

“You're a professional. Be a professional. Figure it out,” Jefferson said. “Our job is not to start you and sacrifice our team and everything because you can't figure it out.”

The Lakers return to action on Thursday with another tough matchup against their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. It will be very interesting to see if Westbrook gets the bench demotion that we've all been hearing about in that one.