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Russell Westbrook was made to be the villain earlier in the season and turns out he may actually be one of the Lakers heroes
Russell Westbrook may save the Los Angeles Lakers season. A statement like that was unfathomable just a couple of months ago, but that is where we may be heading. I recently wrote about three possible trade options that the Lakers may have considered, and one included trading Westbrook. But, for me, that was the worst of the trade scenarios because of one big unknown: how long Anthony Davis would stay healthy.
Unfortunately, we got that answer after the Lakers performed an MRI on their star power forward. According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin, Davis will miss multiple weeks with a foot injury.
That leaves a 38-year-old LeBron James to take on a lot more responsibility in a season he has dealt with his own injury issues.
The Lakers turned around their season after starting 2-10. They have gotten good play from players like Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker, but the turnaround began when the Lakers decided to have Westbrook come off the bench. When it was first proposed, many believed it would not work because it seemed Westbrook would not be open to starting the game from the bench.
Well, that wasn’t the case, as Westbrook has embraced his bench role and finishes most of the games, which is a big reason why the Lakers are 11-6 since that 2-10 start. Since November 13, when the Lakers lost to the Kings and fell to 2-10, Westbrook is first in assists on the team, third in rebounding, and third in steals. Westbrook is averaging 13.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in those 17 games. Westbrook recently became the first Laker to record multiple triple-doubles off the bench with his 15 points, 11 rebounds 12 assist performance in the Lakers’ massive win over the Nuggets. The above injury to Davis occurred in this game when Westbrook took over.
Of course, this is a far cry from Westbrook’s MVP years when it was a big story when Westbrook didn’t get a triple-double. But you start to see how not trading Westbrook will pay dividends, especially with Davis out indefinitely. Some may say if they did trade Westbrook for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner, they might be able to stay above water even with the injury to Davis. The problem with that is neither of those players can create their own shots or shots consistently for their teammates like Westbrook.
Lebron talked about the difference between last year and this year when it comes to playing alongside Westbrook as they build chemistry on the court.
“Just logged minutes. I stressed that a lot last year,” James said. “We just didn’t have enough time to log enough minutes and know exactly how we wanted to play, how we wanted to work off one another, and how we were going to be effective, so just a lot of logged minutes and being at the right place at the right time.”
Here is Westbrook also speaking to the duo, building chemistry.
“It just depends. I think Bron does a great job of running the floor and I find him on the break. I know he’s one of the best ever, once he gets a head of steam, there’s not much people can do with it and it’s my job to be able to find him and make the game easy for him and that’s what I try to do. He’s on the verge of breaking the scoring record and I just try to make the game easy for him so he doesn’t have to work extremely hard to score baskets.”
Westbrook is not a walking triple-double anymore, and his shot is still inconsistent, but he can change the game in multiple ways and help take some of the playmaking load off LeBron until Davis is back in the lineup. No other player on the Lakers roster can provide that support. The Lakers players outside of Davis and LeBron depend on the playmaking skills of LeBron and Westbrook. So even when the situation seemed hopeless, not trading Westbrook might give the Lakers a fighting chance as we witness the last game and a half they played without Anthony Davis.
What if, in a pure Hollywood twist, Westbrook turns out to be the hero and not the villain?
