EL SEGUNDO — Throughout the season, Russell Westbrook heard his teammates and coaches echo a refrain: “Let Russ be Russ.”
It was their way of encouraging the 2017 MVP to find his groove in his first season with the Lakers – to attack the rim, to play with force and passion. But in time, Westbrook didn’t trust what he was hearing.
At his Monday exit interview, when a reporter repeated the sentence – “Let Russ be Russ” – Westbrook cut in: “Yeah, but that wasn’t true. Let’s be honest.”
On the heels of a 33-49 Lakers season rife with underachievement and festering dysfunction, Westbrook unleashed frustrations with how his season went and the people who he believes prevented him from being himself: “I just felt that I never was given a fair chance just to be who I needed to be to help this team.”
That list includes Coach Frank Vogel, who was dismissed officially on Monday morning, as well as disappointment with fans who didn’t embrace him. Westbrook has often hinted at tensions brewing since coming to his hometown franchise, but on the heels of “not my best season” in which he was booed at times by the Lakers home crowd, he finally let loose.
“I would probably say the only thing that was a problem or issue was with just the reception I got from people here, for any reason, whatever that may be,” he said. “Whether it’s the fans or whatever, it wasn’t so great. But that’s not up to me to judge or of any sort. Just kind of came to work, did my job.”
Westbrook’s words seem to indicate that the disgruntled superstar would have a hard time coming back to Los Angeles for a second season, despite fulfilling a dream of returning to his hometown to play for the franchise he cheered for while growing up. But the Lakers are potentially on the hook for a $47 million player option in his contract – one which Westbrook didn’t confirm he will exercise (though he is widely expected to do so) – which could make it difficult to send him elsewhere.
Westbrook said he “very rarely” felt like himself on the court with the Lakers, based in part on the changing rotations that everyone dealt with, but also based on the sacrifices he was asked to make as a player. His interpretation was that he was “making a bigger sacrifice than anyone,” and that his circumstances in L.A. prevented him from being the kind of player he could have been for the team.
“Obviously I’m coming off averaging a triple-double,” Westbrook said. “So anything less than that would not be a good season for me in my eyes, you know what I’m saying?
Many of the Lakers’ flaws this season have become more clear since the team was officially eliminated from play-in contention last Tuesday, the disappointing conclusion for a team with confident championship aspirations last summer. While players have cited numerous injuries, constantly revolving lineups and a general lack of on-court chemistry as issues, Westbrook’s play was a part of it – a part Westbrook believes was met with outsized backlash.
Westbrook’s averages dropped this season (18.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 7.1 apg) as one might expect from sharing the load with new superstar teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But for one, Westbrook didn’t share the court with them both often, playing 78 games this season as James played 56 and Davis played 40. And his efficiency took a free fall in the middle of the season: In January, he shot 41.6% as coaches began to tighten his minutes and bench him late in close games. In February, his shooting dropped to 36.3%.
But Westbrook said the foundation for these issues was laid “from the start.” In his own words, Westbrook said he and Vogel “never connected,” and that despite being willing to “sacrifice” in his role, he always felt like he was fighting uphill with him: “I’m not sure what his issue was with me or I’m not sure why, but I can’t really give you an answer to why we really never connected.”
It wasn’t through lack of trying, Westbrook said. Early on in the relationship, he sent a bottle of champagne for Vogel’s wedding anniversary as a gesture of good faith that he thought would show what kind of person he was.
“But I never, from the get-go, was feeling like (we were on the same page),” he said. “I was having to try to prove myself to him and my capabilities and what I’ve been able to do for this game. And it’s unfortunate but it’s really not (my fault). It’s kind of out of my hands.”
His account contradicts multiple media reports that Vogel might have been an ally behind the scenes, holding off others in the organization who were willing to even bring Westbrook off the bench. But it was clear throughout the season his relationship with Vogel was strained, perhaps no moment more than after Westbrook was benched against Milwaukee shortly before the trade deadline. He defended his right to be on the court: “I don’t have to hit a benchmark. I shouldn’t have to. I earned the right to be in closing lineups. I mean, numbers will tell you. I don’t have to explain that.”
As veterans ambled in on Monday with fresh perspective on the team’s failings, they acknowledged that Westbrook’s inability to find a groove on the court – whether his own fault or someone else’s – had a significant effect on on-court chemistry.
“You’re talking about the point guard of our team, right? That’s usually the head of the snake,” Wayne Ellington said. “He doesn’t feel like he had the best year of his career by any means, but as the point guard of the team, if he doesn’t feel comfortable on the floor, he doesn’t feel the connection within his game, that kind of trickles down as well.”
Westbrook also feuded with fans this season, taking issue with people calling him “Westbrick” as a way of “shaming” him through his name, and he told reporters he was increasingly uncomfortable with his family attending home games because of harassment.
He declined to divulge much about his conversations with James and Davis, which originally helped sway him to ask for a trade from the Washington Wizards last summer. But he said things were “out of their hands” and that especially with James, though they had the roughest on-court fit, “we stayed tight.”
It remains to be seen whether Westbrook will remain with the Lakers, however, and with his season-closing admissions, that possibility seems less likely. But with Vogel out, Westbrook at least left the door open for a return – though who exactly that would satisfy doesn’t seem evident.
“Obviously it’s going to be a lot of different changes based on who the coach is and how our style of play and what we play like,” he said. “So, that question is kind of up in the air. But once that decision is made then we’ll kind of go from there.”
One thing seems clear: Russell Westbrook wants to be himself again, even if that leads him away from L.A.
