The Los Angeles Lakers are currently preparing for the upcoming 2025-26 season, in which they will begin the season with LeBron James on the sidelines. It's been a steady climb up for the Lakers over the last few years since their disastrous 2021-22 season, in which Russell Westbrook was their point guard and they missed the playoffs altogether.
It became evident quickly to viewers that Westbrook and James didn't have great synergy as teammates, and recently, Yaron Weitzman of The Ringer reported on an incident during the early portion of the 2022-23 season that apparently pulled them further apart.
It all took place when actor Will Smith visited the Lakers' practice facility to speak to the team. As Smith was getting a tour of the facility prior to meeting the players, James and co-star Anthony Davis apparently walked out of the room, with James saying, “Y'all got this.'”
When Westbrook questioned what was going on, teammate Patrick Beverley informed him, that “Them two guys can do whatever the f*** they want. They won a championship.”
Then-Lakers head coach Darvin Ham then entered the room, went and brought back James and Davis, and Smith finally came in to spoke to the team, at which point Westbrook began to see through James' facade.
“LeBron was first. He had a question, he said. Smith answered. Then LeBron had another question. And another after that and another after that and another after that. On and on he went, stretching what was supposed to be a 30-minute session into nearly an hour,” reported Weitzman.
“I hate that fake s***,” Westbrook told a teammate.
Overall, the incident was a good encapsulation of just how tumoltuous the Westbrook era truly was for the Lakers.
A rough time for the Lakers
As previously mentioned, the Los Angeles Lakers ended up missing the playoffs altogether in 2021-22. The following year, they would eventually trade Westbrook and climb back and make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, followed by first round exits in 2024 and 2025.
This year, Los Angeles is hoping that the first full season with Luka Doncic will produce fruitful results.
The Lakers kick off their season on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
