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Russell Westbrook had more than a few spats with the media this season. The former league MVP has never been the most jovial person around the press, but it felt like he was a bit more on edge throughout the season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Apparently, Westbrook's foul mood could have a lot to do with his disposition in LA. In a report by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, an unnamed source close to the team dropped a major truth bomb about Russ' situation with the Lakers. As it turns out, Westbrook had/has some major trust issues with the team:
The coaching staff was direct with him in film sessions and private discussions. His teammates weren't always the same way.
“The reality of the season was that Russ has been in a dark corner, and he doesn't know who to trust or who to believe,” a team source said. “Then, if something doesn't go well for him, he backs up a little more.
This notion becomes even more believable once you take it into the context of Westbrook's whole situation in LA. Russ never found his groove this season and one of the biggest factors behind this was the fact that he never really fit in with his team on the basketball court. Apparently, Russ may have also felt the same way about his teammates off the court. As the above report states, his trust issues may have led him to push himself away from the squad.
According to the team source, however, it wasn't as if Westbrook was acting out of paranoia here. The nine-time All-Star had the proper motivation to believe that some of his teammates were actually feeding him with lies:
“There's also guys in the locker room who were so disgruntled about their position that every time something goes bad for Russ, they just find a way to feed the beast,” said the source.
“Telling him the coaches hate you or the front office is trying to get rid of you. Anything to fuel that monster, and give him an enemy.”
That's just awful. It sounds like a bunch of high school teenagers talking behind each other's backs in order to purposely create tension and conflict. However, that's not even the end-all and be-all of this mess. According to Shelburne, there were those within the team that truly had malicious intentions against Westbrook:
There were those in the organization who felt only humiliation would spur Westbrook to change his style of play to fit better within the team structure. Vogel, for his part, believed they should stand by him and give him the space to figure it out, just as he had in other situations over the years, team sources said. While Vogel did eventually bench Westbrook at the end of games when he was not effective, he continued to start him, give him chances and praise him when he played well.
As it turns out, coach Frank Vogel wasn't one of those people who wanted to “humiliate” Westbrook. As a matter of fact, even when the entire basketball world was already calling for it, the Lakers coach refused to bench his star point guard. He eventually conceded, but it is clear that he wanted to give Russ as long as a leash as he could.
You also have to note, though, that Westbrook isn't completely in the clear here. He too played a role in his isolation. Team general manager Rob Pelinka held several meetings with Russ throughout the season in an attempt to iron out the situation. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Carmelo Anthony all reportedly tried reaching out to Russ, but unfortunately, “nobody seemed to get through.”
“He's got to be receptive,” one team source said.
But as someone close to Westbrook said, “Why is he going to listen if he feels like you've been letting him get crucified all year?”
To be fair, Westbrook does have a point. If you think about it, nobody on the Lakers really came out to defend Russ in a strong manner. They would offer him his support, but there were very few occasions, if any, wherein a player from the squad blasted the media for the unsavory narratives that were coming out about Westbrook and his stature within the squad.
What we can say for sure is that these issues run deep for Russ and the Lakers. Hopefully, this is something that gets resolved during the offseason. Otherwise, we might just be looking at the same thing next year.
