Russell Westbrook told his side of the story regarding clips that went viral on Thursday morning that seemed to show the nine-time All-Star opting not to join his Los Angeles Lakers teammates in huddles during their preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

If you have somehow missed the footage, Westbrook was not a part of the Lakers' pregame huddle following starting lineup introductions.

Later on, Westbrook did not join Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Lonnie Walker IV for a gathering organized by his new best friend Patrick Beverley.

As some folks posited — and Westbrook insisted — the clips were taken out of context, as can happen on the World Wide Web. Westbrook chalked up his distance to the pregame huddle to his longtime routine, which consists of Westbrook doing his own thing as his teammates bring it in. He then clarified that he was talking to the Lakers' coaches when his teammates gathered during the game, which seems to be true.

All that is fair, but the optics are obviously eyebrow-raising. Considering how last season went, his scorched-earth exit interview press conference, his distance from LeBron at Summer League, the Beverley acquisition, and the ongoing trade buzz, every gesture Westbrook makes is going to be overly dissected. In the same media scrum on Thursday, Westbrook said that type of scrutiny is not specific to Los Angeles and has followed him throughout his career.

It was a strange night for Russ. He got T'd up for reenacting “White Men Can't Jump” with Jaden McDaniels and had by far his worst outing of the preseason: five points, 1-of-3 shooting, three rebounds, four assists, and three turnovers in 25 minutes. He pushed the pace productively on a few occasions but overall looked less engaged than he'd been in previous warm-up contests. He punctuated the evening with a cryptic Instagram post.

Darvin Ham acknowledged that the “vibe was kind of off” for the ice-cold Lakers in their 118-113 loss — the first exhibition game in which his team deployed their primary rotation guys for the bulk of the action.

FWIW, Beverley said things are all good.