When the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season, they thought he would form a Big Three next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But nothing went to plan, and despite Darvin Ham‘s effort to make it work, the team eventually let Brodie go.
Westbrook was sent to the Utah Jazz as part of a three-team trade before the February deadline last season, but he was cut by his new team. In a shocking turn of events, Russ rediscovered his best version at the Clippers.
Many things have changed for both since they took separate ways, with the veteran guard repairing his reputation in the league while the purple and gold once again became a competitive team. While many blame Westbrook for the Lakers’ previous struggles, Ham is grateful for what Brodie did under his tutelage.
Darvin Ham has nothing but praise for Russell Westbrook
“And I told Russ, I said—and shout out to Russ, man. He takes a lot of blame, and everybody seems to want to talk stuff about him … but some of the stuff he has to endure, and he’s still a very, very highly capable basketball player. I appreciate him for just giving it a chance and complying with what I wanted to do and just taking a bullet for the team,” the Lakers head coach said on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast, via ClutchPoints.
“People forget, man, when he came in from that reserve role, and we would put runners and shooters and rim rollers and finishers around him. There’s times they were chanting MVP for Russ. … He brought that energy. And you look up, and now we’ve gone on a 12-to-2 or 10–0 run as soon as he stepped into the lineup off the bench.”
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Russell Westbrook"s message to LeBron, Lakers after the Clippers" playoff elimination
Ham has a fair point. Even if he struggled with the purple and gold, Westbrook showed a much better version of himself coming off the bench. Even so, parting ways turned out to be the best for everyone.
