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In case you missed it, Russell Westbrook logged his fourth consecutive triple-double on Friday as the Los Angeles Lakers blew out the Portland Trail Blazers, 139-106. Russ has been absolutely stuffing the stat sheet of late and this has translated to LA winning two out of their last three games.
Be that as it may, Westbrook has been one of the biggest scapegoats for the Lakers and their disappointing season thus far. Many believe that despite his eye-popping box score numbers, Westbrook has yet to prove his fit alongside LeBron James and the rest of this LA roster. ESPN's senior writer Zach Lowe appears to completely agree with this notion. According to the renowned NBA insider, he just doesn't believe Russ is capable of bringing back his superstar form:
“I think it’s just time to call a spade a spade,” Lowe said in a recent episode of his The Lowe Post podcast (h/t Casey McCarthy of Lakers Daily). “Russ is not a superstar, whatever your definition of a superstar is. And when I hear that word, what I hear is ‘could make an All-NBA team this year’ kind of player. Russ just isn’t that player anymore.”
Quite a strong take from Lowe here. He's talking about a guy who is coming off a triple-double average from the previous season, which astoundingly, happens to be the fourth time Westbrook has done it in his career. Not to mention the fact that the Lakers point guard holds the all-time record for most career triple-doubles. Russ has become the victim of his own success in that his statistical achievements are often downplayed simply because he's doing it on such a regular basis.
The counterargument here, however, is that triple-doubles mean nothing if your team is losing. Unfortunately for Westbrook, the Lakers aren't winning — or at least they haven't been able to live up to the lofty expectations many had on them prior to the start of the season. Currently at 18-19, LA is below the .500-mark and is sitting at the seventh spot in the West.
Lowe then goes on to point out how Westbrook's turnovers have continued to hurt his team:
“People pay attention to the turnovers, and I think he’s second in the league in turnovers behind Harden,” Lowe said. “It’s not just the turnovers, it’s the misses at the rim that are effectively turnovers because he falls over and it’s a five-on-four jailbreak the other way.”
Is Zach Lowe on to something here? Is Russell Westbrook really one of the biggest reasons behind the Lakers' poor play in the first half of the season? If this is the case, then what now?
Should the Lakers seriously consider offloading Westbrook prior to the February trade deadline? This isn't the first time this notion has been brought up and with how things are going for LA so far this season, you could say that this wouldn't be a complete shocker. Russ is on a massive deal that will see him earn $91.2 million through next season, so finding a trade partner that will be willing to take on such a huge hit on their salary cap would be a challenge, to say the least.
Alternatively, is Russell Westbrook actually capable of making the necessary adjustments for him to be able to give the Lakers exactly what they need from him? I guess we'll just have to all wait and see.
