NBA superstar Russell Westbrook is on the brink of having his worst outing since his third year in the league. After leading the league in scoring during the 2014-15 and the 2016-17 seasons, the 2017 NBA Most Valuable Player has seen his numbers going down the drain after being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of the 2021-22 NBA season.
Russell Westbrook, who was the face of the Oklahoma City Thunders franchise for eleven years before being traded to the Houston Rockets and then later to the Washington Wizards, seems struggling to find his place beside Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
And he seems to have yet found his rhythm and adapted to his new role-playing away from the ball. This current season is his lowest output with an average of 18.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists in 34.4 minutes per game this 2021-22 season, way too far from the MVP numbers he posted in 2017 when he set a record 42 triple-doubles.
Will coach Vogel demote Russell Westbrook from the starting lineup?
ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that many people within the Los Angeles Lakers organization are increasingly pushing to remove nine-time NBA All-Star guard from the starting lineup. However, sources reveal that Lakers coach Frank Vogel has yet to come on board this idea.
The source added that the Lakers coaching staff have different opinions and ideas on the best way to use Westbrook's on-court basketball talent.
The source added that this has led to several disagreements in the past several days, including the team's film session last Friday.
Westbrook to come off the Bench?
During last Friday's interview, Vogel was asked about the possibility for Westbrook, 33, in assuming a bench role to help the team, "We have discussions, just like the front office has thousands of trade discussions every deadline, and they don't discuss every one of those.
Most of them don't come to fruition. And that's where we're at with Russ. Is there a path where that's the better option? So we have talked about that. We've talked about everything we can do with our team."
Trade option for Westbrook
There was a rumor that trade option was also on the table, though there was not much fruition.
In fact, Lakers legend Magic Johnson seems a bit wary should the organization decides to go in this direction.
In the latest tweet from Legion Hoops, Magic Johnson was quoted as saying that the trade could "go down as the worst trade in Lakers history."
Imagine trading for Russell Westbrook, taking the ball out of his hands, not letting him be a playmaker, surrounding him with non-shooters & then blaming him for all your team’s issues.
Russ hasn’t been great. Russ hasn’t been himself. Cause LA is asking him to be someone else. https://t.co/rI4nq44fHF
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) March 6, 2022Sixth man option
But some NBA critics and Lakers loyal fanbase are optimistic that Russell Westbrook may offer a better deal should he decide that it's time for him to come off the bench. With heavy firepowers and a deep bench of NBA superstars, Westbrook can surely boost the Lakers team with him coming off the bench as a sixth man.
