Russell Westbrook Can Barely Contain His Excitement That He's No Longer On The Lakers

Adam Pantozzi. Getty Images.

There are few players in the NBA that are more polarizing than Russell Westbrook. That's certainly nothing new, it's been that way basically his entire career. People either love him or hate him with no real in between. Despite the fact that he was doing historic shit on the basketball court, it was almost as if people could wait to discredit it. When things went south, it was always his fault no matter what he did. That's the sort of thing that comes with star players, but it always felt a little excessive with Westbrook.

This is especially true during his time with the Lakers. Media, fans, hell even the team seemed to put nearly all of their early struggles last year on his shoulders. As if it was his fault that LeBron basically demanded the Lakers trade for him and Rob Pelinka built a pretty shitty roster with zero shooting to start the year. It took about 2 seconds after he was traded for the Lakers to start slandering him through the media, essentially suggesting that he was the root of all their problems

and it was pretty obvious where all that noise was coming from given how LeBron was talking right before the trade

Now to be fair, it's not like Westbrook was lighting it up as a Laker. He shot just 41/29% in his 53 games coming off the Lakers bench, and it was clear to anyone who watched those games that he wasn't a good fit. Granted most people thought that before the trade and were confused as to why LeBron was pushing so hard for it, but obviously there was more going on behind the scenes than just a bad basketball fit. How do we know that? Remember Russ' reaction immediately after he ended up with the Clippers?

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We saw his production improve almost immediately. Inserted back into the starting lineup over the final 21 games as a Clipper, Russ' efficiency went back up to a much more respectable 48/35%. He looked more and more like the Westbrook we remembered. So far this year, it's more of the same. Russ' FGA isn't all that crazy (10.3) and he's off to a good start shooting 56/33% from the floor. It's pretty clear he's much happier in his new role/team, and this was a topic that came up ahead of tonight's Lakers/Clippers showdown

I don't ask for much, but one day I'm going to need there to be a documentary/30 for 30 about this long list. What else could there be other than the fact that the entire organization continued to blame Westbrook for everything? You know it's LeBron related, how could it not be? I would imagine the Lakers fanbase is also somewhere on that list, but honestly, who could blame Westbrook for being happier now that he's away from that franchise? I don't blame him one bit.

Let's not forget, he's also now on the better team. That's definitely going to help your spirits, and while they say that LA will always be a Lakers town, the reality is the Clippers have completely owned this matchup since the Bubble

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Tonight will be the second time Westbrook has faced the Lakers since his trade (14/3/4 on 50/50% in a 7 point Clippers win last April), and you know he's going to be motivated to continue sticking it to the team that he clearly still holds a grudge against. I think we all can respect a good old-fashioned grudge, and I personally will always support anyone who now also shares a hatred of the Lakers. 

I'm also curious how many other former Lakers feel this way, because you know Westbrook isn't alone here. My guess is D'Angelo Russell is going to have a similar stance once the Lakers finally trade him this February, because he's essentially become the new scapegoat for that team, similar to what we saw with Westbrook.