EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — After Frank Vogel was removed as Los Angeles Lakers coach earlier in the day, Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook spoke about the split that existed between the two in his first season in LA
“Honestly, I find that unfortunate because I’ve never had a problem with any of my coaches,” Westbrook said Monday after his exit interview with the Lakers front office. “I’m not sure what his problem was with me, or I’m not sure why, but I can’t really answer you as to why we never really connected.”
Westbrook, who was the highest-paid player during the Lakers’ nightmarish 2021-22 season, wasn’t done dealing with just the coach either. He addressed several other aspects of his Lakers experience that went wrong in his 21-minute press conference and detailed how he felt unfairly treated.
“When I got here, the ability to do what I can do for a team and an organization wasn’t given a fair chance,” he said.
Westbrook continued to blame false news reports as a contributing factor to his struggles last season.
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“The famous ‘source’ stories that have come out about me, whether it’s between me and the staff, me and Frank, me and the fans, there’s just so many made-up stories that aren’t true,” Westbrook said. “It just has to be constantly fighting against it. It just isn’t [being] given a fair chance. It’s like, ‘Okay, now I have to fight this made-up story. Now I have to fight this one. Now I’m going to fight this one. Now I have to fight this one.'”
When asked directly for an example of a made-up story about his time with the Lakers, he didn’t provide a specific answer.
“No,” Westbrook said. “I can not. You know the examples. I don’t want to go into detail about what story, who wrote it, why… it’s pointless. It really doesn’t matter because it’s not true. don’t come from me [it is not true].”
The 2017 league MVP also said that LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ repeated intentions to “let Russ be Russ” in order to unlock the best version of the former All-Star was disingenuous.
“Yes, [they said it],” Westbrook said. “But that wasn’t true.”
When asked to elaborate, Westbrook said it came down to the fact that the parts couldn’t complement each other.
“It’s a combination of our position on the floor, positioning, fit and challenge, trial and error, being able to play with each other on the floor,” Westbrook said. “Finding ways in which we can best use ourselves. As simple as that.”
Westbrook, who has a $47 million player option for next season, didn’t have an easy answer when asked if he plans to exercise it. “Um, I’ll make the decision,” he said. “That’s why it’s called ‘player option’.”
Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka made no commitment to giving the James-Davis-Westbrook group another shot next season should Westbrook choose to do so.
“Like any player, we will work with him after this decision has been made on what is best for his future,” said Pelinka. “Rest assured we will look under every stone for ways to improve and be open to anything that will improve our team and enable us to compete at a higher level next year than we did this year. “
Westbrook, who played in 78 games and averaged 18.5 points on 44.4% shots (29.8% of 3), 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, admitted his performance wasn’t his personal met standards.
“Just my game in general, not my best season, it’s just beyond my personal scale,” he said. “Obviously I’m getting away with a triple-double on average, so anything less than that wouldn’t be a good season for me in my eyes, you know what I’m saying? So the scale of where it’s coming from is a little bit different.”
After a loss to the Phoenix Suns last week that officially eliminated the Lakers from the play-in tournament, Westbrook said “the plan” is to play for LA again next season so he, James and Davis could see how they look together for the sake of health. They have only played 21 games together this season due to various injuries, going 11-10.
“I just hope we have a chance to make a difference,” he said.
After all the grievances Westbrook shared Monday, he was asked what would make him want to play for the Lakers again, with the additional context seemingly inconsistent with his previous statement.
“I mean of course there will be a lot of different changes depending on who the coach is and our style of play and how we play,” he said. “So, that question is up in the air. But once that decision is made, we will move on from there.”