Russell Westbrook hasn't been playing his best basketball with the Los Angeles Lakers. This is not news to anyone who has actually watched the team play this season. There have been numerous instances in which the Lakers have not looked very good, and Russ' issues have certainly been one of the biggest factors in that.
Around the trade deadline, there were rumblings that Russ could be traded to the Houston Rockets for John Wall. Eventually, this all fell through, however, according to The Athletic, there was certainly a push for it to happen. As Bill Oram and Sam Amick write, the Lakers coaching staff was very keen on getting rid of Westbrook, as they felt like he just simply didn't fit in with the entire roster.
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Per The Athletic:
"Sources say the coaching staff made an unsuccessful push for Westbrook to be traded before the Feb. 10 deadline, when the Lakers passed on Houston’s John Wall, in part, because of the draft considerations that it would have required to make the deal. There were also significant concerns about the fact that Wall hadn’t played all season and, thus, didn’t instill confidence in his ability to help the Lakers turn their season around.
Yet now, it appears, the friction between Westbrook and the coaching staff has only grown worse. Sources confirmed the recent rising of tensions between Westbrook and the coaching staff, which were first reported by Marc Stein. If only for a night, Westbrook’s 20-point, four-assist, four-rebound, plus-13 outing against the Warriors on Saturday offered a reminder that he is capable of being part of the solution. But the performance was an outlier, to say the least."
Westbrook and the Lakers will most likely part ways in the summer, however, until then, he's just going to have to figure it out, or else Lakers fans might riot.
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