The future of Russell Westbrook is still and always at the heart of the discussions at the dawn of the start of the season. Will Darvin Ham manage to involve him with his project? Will he manage to correct his major flaws? For a former teammate you must not dream, the adventure is over.
Threatened since the end of last season, even though he was the most available star in the squad, Russell Westbrook should finally continue the adventure with the Lakers. Difficult to know in what role on the other hand, he who started the training camp in the starting 5 before finding himself on the bench for the last preseason meeting.
If its future could still evolve between now and the trade deadline, in particular thanks to the intense race to recover Victor Wembanyama, the former MVP will still have to integrate into the Darvin Ham system for the start of the season. The question is therefore whether a return to the fore is possible after having shown such limits during the previous exercise. Can he defend? Limit bullet losses?
For Kendrick Perkins, we must trade Westbrook
These are questions that ESPN consultants tried to answer on the eve of the recovery, and the time was not necessarily for optimism. For Kendrick Perkins, former teammate of Russ in Oklahoma City, we have to face the facts, the transplant will never take. According to the colossus, everything would be a question of mental, and the n°0 will never really accept the role of 6th man.
Russell Westbrook will fit into the month of Never. The Lakers will never find the right solution for the point guard, whether it’s getting him started in the starting 5 or getting him off the bench. I could think of this team all weekend after the slap received for the last preseason game. Even though he got injured quickly, we have to talk about the elephant in the room: it’s not going to work with Russ. The relationship is over.
Darvin Ham is doing his best, but in the end I think that with the way the Lakers squad is built, Russell Westbrook will not fully accept his role as 6th man. He didn’t come to be on the bench, he needs to get a lot of money, so Rob Pelinka needs to touch up the squad before it’s too late, and to be honest best to trade the player .
For Kendrick Perkins, Russell Westbrook will not accept the role of 6th man in the long term, already because his salary does not necessarily match this position, but also because the Lakers workforce does not have another clearly superior leader. to the former MVP. More difficult to accept a place on the bench for a player who can be much better than his competitors on a good night…
His former teammate is clear: Russell Westbrook won’t want to stay on the bench, which is why it would make more sense to trade him as soon as possible. But for that, Rob Pelinka must find a serious business partner.