With both LeBron James and Anthony Davis ruled out for Wednesday night's game against the Toronto Raptors, the Los Angeles Lakers will be turning to Russell Westbrook for leadership on the floor. However, he is expected to still come off the bench in the Raptors game despite the absences of the two Lakers superstars, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Darvin Ham indicates that Russell Westbrook will likely come off the bench tonight despite LeBron James and Anthony Davis being out because he likes Westbrook’s rhythm with the second unit.
Davis is being sidelined by an illness that forced him to exit very early from Tuesday's road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which the Lakers ultimately lost to the tune of a 116-102 score. Davis played in only eight minutes in that game and scored a point before leaving. Meanwhile, James will sit out the meeting with Toronto because of an ankle injury. He's also probably just having a maintenance day on the second leg of a back-to-back set. In the loss to his former team, the four-time NBA MVP recorded 21 points and 17 rebounds to go with four assists, a steal, and a block in 36 minutes.
As for Westbrook, even if he does end up coming off the bench, he should enjoy a significant uptick in minutes. He had 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the floor with three rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes versus the Raptors. So far this season, Westbrook is averaging 14.6 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field, 5.2 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game.
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