The Los Angeles Lakers needed to add shooters around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And even though Patrick Beverley is a better shooter than Russell Westbrook, that doesn’t make him a good shooter.
Spacing could be a major issue for the 2022-23 Los Angeles Lakers again. Opposing defenses often collapsed the paint and dared Westbrook to hit wide-open shots from the perimeter, which didn’t happen very often.
That’s why ESPN’s Brian Windhorst doesn’t think Westbrook and Beverley can coexist on the court. Their personal history and beef aside, they’re just not a good pairing from a basketball standpoint.
Brian Windhorst Says Patrick Beverley And Russell Westbrook Can’t Work Together
“I am still trying to get over that we had Beverley and Westbrook on the list of notable backcourts,” Windhorst said. “Ahead of at least 7 or 8 other ones. You can’t tell me that that backcourt can work in any circumstance in 2022 NBA, and you can’t tell me that LeBron has any interest in playing with those two guys running the floor for him.”
Lakers Also Have Doubts About Their Backcourt
The analyst also thinks the Lakers are aware of this. Windhorst claims they will try and make things work because they’re pretty much stuck with Westbrook right now, but the early results may not be encouraging:
“I just don’t believe that the Lakers think this is gonna work,” Windhorst said. “They’re saying that and trying to make the best out of this because they know they don’t have any Russell Westbrook trade that makes sense for them right now. So they’re gonna try to make it work.”
“Let’s be honest: we live in an NBA era where you have to have shooting,” Windhorst added. “When the Lakers won their title a couple of years ago, it was with shooting. All of LeBron’s great teams in his career had shooting. You have Russell Westbrook, one of the worst three-point shooters in the NBA, and Patrick Beverley, who’scoming off his worst three-point shooting season of his career. I guess I can’t rule anything out, but this duo doesn’t make any sense on a basketball level. I appreciate that they’re being nice to each other, so points for that.”
At the end of the day, it seems like the Lakes will have to make a decision and either have Westbrook coming off the bench or give up picks to trade him away. Otherwise, things could get ugly pretty quickly.
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