One of the most surreal stories heading into the 2022-23 NBA season has to be Russell Westbrook, who now shares a team with Patrick Beverley.
The two have a rocky history, and everything they’ve done since sharing threads has been scrutinized. They make up for each other on team photo day, the way they talk about each other as teammates, and most recently, Westbrook apparently avoiding a team meeting called by Beverley.
The video shows Beverley calling his Lakers teammates for a defensive meeting, before he starts calling someone off-screen. Eventually, Westbrook slides into the box.
Patrick Beverley trying to be a defensive leader, but Russell Westbrook wasn’t feeling it 👀
(via @JacobRude)pic.twitter.com/FSi8YTO64f
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 13, 2022
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However, another view of the video provides some clarity on what happened.
The reality is that Westbrook simply missed Beverley’s call, and was talking to an official and the Lakers’ bench about defensive positioning.
“As for the other video, I was actually talking to the coaches and they cut that video in half as well,” Westbrook said, according to ESPN. “I was talking to the coaches about a missed coverage. So, I don’t pay attention to it, man.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to compete and do my job. Everything, the videos, get criticized. You can cut any video and do whatever you want with it. It’s not up to me to judge that. I know. I’m a real team player. Never I’ve had trouble being with my teammates, so I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Westbrook will be under scrutiny for the rest of his tenure with the Lakers, there’s no doubt about that. With LeBron James reasonably late in his career, Anthony Davis looking to stay healthy, and the addition of Beverley, Westbrook will simply have to be better this year than he was last season to avoid the wrath of Los Angeles fans looking to make another run. .
Source: news.google.com