It may have just been a preseason game, but the fact that Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham finally decided to have Russell Westbrook come off the bench certainly made all sorts of headlines. Russ himself stated that his hamstring injury may have been indirectly caused by the fact that he came off the bench for the first time in his career, which only further stoked the flame of this intriguing narrative.

Speaking to the press on Thursday, Ham addressed the elephant in the room. When asked to share his thoughts on Westbrook's comments, the Lakers shot-caller was quick to deny any implications about playing a part in Russ' injury (h/t Mark Medina of NBA.com on Twitter):

“First and foremost, let me be clear on this. The Lakers, myself, my staff, we in no way shape and form would put anybody, a player, an employee, in harm's way,” Ham stated. “Be it mentally, physically, spiritually. We don't stand for that. We're not about that. That's not who we are.”

Coach Ham then shared how he's already spoken with Westbrook about this issue and that they've now put it to bed:

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“Second of all, Russ and I discussed what was out there,” Ham said. “Brief discussion. We moved on. We got an understanding, and again, as the coach of this team, my staff and I, we're gonna do what's best for our team to be as successful as we can be. I'll just leave it at that.”

Ham did not seem particularly pleased about having to field these questions — and understandably so. Then again, we all knew that this was going to be one of the biggest storylines for the Lakers as soon as Westbrook came out with his controversial claim.

What Darvin Ham did not clarify, however, is whether or not Westbrook will actually come off the bench moving forward. The former league MVP got the starting nod in the Lakers' season-opener against the Golden State Warriors, but it remains to be seen if Westbrook is going to be keeping his starting gig the rest of the way.