Russell Westbrook is back to himself after a forgettable Lakers tenure: I know who I am

June 09, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Russell Westbrook was having a night to forget in what became a Los Angeles Lakers tenure to forget. He missed all 11 of his field goal attempts as part of a customary Lakers loss to the LA Clippers.

Westbrook was seen as a liability, a literal square peg flinging errant shots into a round hole.

“I saw he just wasn’t comfortable when he was with the Lakers,” Clippers forward Paul George said. “You could just see it on him that there’s so many battles he was fighting. And so I was the first to defend him. I knew that wasn’t the finished product of what Russ is. I knew he had a lot more basketball in him, and I knew he could help us.”

Westbrook has a lot more help with the Clippers than he did a year ago. As much as Westbrook brings the fight to his opponents, he is with stars and a head coach who have consistently fought for him as well. That fight will be taken into the next chapter of the Lakers-Clippers rivalry that resumes Wednesday night under the Lakers banners in downtown Los Angeles.

“I think it’s going to be good,” Westbrook told The Athletic of Wednesday’s game against his former team. “It’s another game, and we got to make sure that we understand it’s the battle of LA. We’ll go out and compete and play like we’ve been playing. If we do that, I’m not even worried about who is on the other side.”

It will be Westbrook’s second game against the Lakers, and first as a visitor since he was traded to the Utah Jazz and bought out of his contract to sign with the Clippers last February.

Westbrook’s time with LA was interesting, to say the least. The combination of Westbrook’s unideal fit with the Lakers, the jeers Westbrook would get in his home arena for his poor shooting performances and conflicts with the way he was used (lineups with three and four other guards) and with his co-stars clearly weighed on Westbrook despite being in the final year of a $205 million contract.

“Nobody knows, it’s just a made up narrative that people make easy to run with,” Westbrook said. “There’s never been a teammate, coach, staff — never one thing bad. It’s just what’s made up. But it’s all going to play out. You know why? What makes people upset is how I don’t give a f— because I know who I am, I know what kind of person I am. So I know when people say something, I don’t waver, because I already know. I know what I do behind the scenes that people don’t see. And I like it that way.”

That confident demeanor as a front-facing stakeholder on this team has been reflected from the top down. Lue has been somewhat rejuvenated by Westbrook compared to how he felt entering 2023. George said last week, “You’re going to see the Westbrook everybody loved two years ago, for whatever fans that fell off,” another clear reference to Westbrook’s time with the Lakers.

Even Leonard, who subtly recalled Westbrook’s “win, lose or draw” comments that did not go over well with the Lakers during the playoffs, has praised Westbrook as a key barometer for the team in 2023. He understands that Westbrook’s weaknesses with the Lakers did not preclude him from helping the Clippers.

“You can still see it: He had speed. His mind is still in the game,” Leonard said of Westbrook Tuesday. “You know, he wants to win, he’s competitive. Everything that we’ve been seeing. You know, what he’s been doing his whole career, pretty much. So, guys know who he is. He’s been an MVP in the league.”

Even as Westbrook prepares for the latest encounter with his recent past, he is faced with the next readjustment: playing with James Harden again. The two Los Angeles natives both started their careers in Oklahoma City and then reunited for a single season in Houston. Harden visited the Clippers locker room prior to Tuesday’s game and embraced Westbrook; after Tuesday’s game, Westbrook made it clear that he could not talk about Harden or Tucker due to the trade being unofficial, but he was “definitely, definitely happy” as he came into the postgame press conference room beaming.

The two ballhandling guards will have to figure out a new dynamic playing together again, and doing so with Leonard and George serving as the better scorers at this stage of their careers. Both Westbrook and Harden have greater value as passers. But Westbrook being able to play with two stars in Leonard and George who entered the NBA as 3-and-D wings on playoff teams is a markedly different dynamic than the one Westbrook had to fulfill with the Lakers, who have ball-dominant presences in all-time leading scorer LeBron James and a non-spacing big in Anthony Davis.

“Just playing my position, simple as that,” Westbrook said Tuesday when I asked him what about the Clippers has allowed him to bounce back on the court. “I’ve been a point guard since I’ve been in this league, and always will be. And I would say that I’m pretty good at that position, because I’ve been in the league and I’m grateful that coach trusts me to be able to run these guys. And I’m grateful that Paul and ‘Whi and everybody else around here allows me to be able to play my position and try to make the game easy for them.

“Honestly, it’s as simple as that for me and being able to do that since I’ve been here has made me most comfortable where I’m supposed to be.”

There is still a long way to go for Westbrook to consider this season a success. Extending what has been an 11-game win streak for the Clippers over the Lakers is just a small part of the puzzle. The team will enter a stretch of four days off, then play six games out of state over a 17-day stretch. Westbrook has already had to adjust his style of play to help optimize the Clippers, and those sacrifices only increase with Harden on a smaller roster.

A year later, George feels validated for calling out the Lakers and suggesting that Westbrook’s difficulties were a product of the environment Westbrook was in, not a permanent descent into being a fringe NBA player.

“‘He’s this, he’s washed, he’s just…’ all these narratives started to float around when he literally just was the same player that he is with us with Washington,” George said. “He had a great stretch and stint in Houston right after Oklahoma, and so I just knew he still had it.’”

And George was right. Westbrook is not only capable of making a positive impact, he has also shown that he is capable of buying into what his coaches and teammates need to win, even when that means sacrificing statistics. After reaching the 30-game mark with the Clippers, Westbrook knows that his presence goes beyond himself. He affects the coaches, the stars, the young players, the veterans. And he plays for more than just a LA team.

“When people come to the game, after the game people come to me: ‘how you played inspired me to go do something I want to do tomorrow,’” Westbrook said. “Like, that to me brings joy. I enjoy that. I came to the game, I compete my ass off to the fans that see me play. That’s the joy, man. Yeah, points and all that is cool. That’s great! But to impact and inspire people that’s watching, that’s the most important part.

“It’s unfortunate that the media tries to take that away from me. But that’s why I have so much faith, because as much as people try to take it away from me from Day 1, I keep my head down and keep working. And everything else will play out.”

(Photo of Russell Westbrook: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGlpaWphbHxzfJFsZmppX2V%2BcL7UrKqepJxixKa%2F05upqKebYrCttc%2BpnKurXaGurLHRrGY%3D