As Russell Westbrook openly detailed what he and his family have experienced this year following the Lakers’ loss to the Spurs, one thing became crystal clear — this is a person who is not comfortable at his workplace. This is a person who is hurting.
Regardless if one is for or against the argument that criticism, boo’s and heckling are stitched into sports’ tapestry and “just part of the game,” Westbrook’s comments, if nothing else, ripped open a festering sore surrounding the team for the entire world to see. This is a tense, frustrated, and desperate group of individuals. A combination that rarely leads to success on or off the floor.
The team still has games left to play, and a play-in tournament spot they must cling onto if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive. But in order to move forward, the group and Westbrook both need to come to an understanding on what the best steps forward must be, whether that’s both sides determining the best way to optimize his role, if he starts or comes off the bench, or if he simply needs time away from the team. But regardless of the decision, the conversation needs to happen, for everyone’s sake, which brings us to today’s episode.
On this edition of Talk-O-Tuesday, hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla discussed Westbrook’s postgame comments, what the team may and should do going forward with him, as well as giving a temperature check on the state of the club as they head into the final stretch of the season.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.
