Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was known to be against the idea of waiving Russell Westbrook. But there was a strong sense from the coaching staff that it might be necessary if no trade was forthcoming, sources tell jovanbuha and sam_amick.
. Those developments being so public naturally affected Westbrook, though he denied it publicly.
“No. I do not,” he said Saturday when asked if trade rumors affected him. “That’s not up to me. Like I said, I’ve known this was a business since I was 18, 19 years old, since I got into it. My dad taught me that at that age, getting to this league is a business, and people make whatever decision they make. And I’ll make sure I’m ready and professional, like I always have been and always will be.
– the latter despite James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. James’ pro-Irving tweets, postgame “duh” comment in New Orleans and interview with ESPN about being disappointed in not trading for Irving added even more eyes on the Lakers’ internal dynamics., Westbrook and assistant coach Phil Handy had a verbal confrontation on the sideline — their second in roughly a month — which eventually earned the Lakers a delay of game warning.
Halftime of Westbrook’s Lakers finale was an emblematic ending to his time with the franchise. Ham went, well, HAM on the entire team because of its porous defensive effort in the first half. The Lakers had given up 76 first-half points to a young Thunder team that entered play averaging just 58.1 points in every other first half of this season.
So Ham, whose offseason pitch to land this coaching job had included a promise to communicate directly, candidly and fearlessly with his players, did just that when the team reached the locker room. He admonished them for focusing too much on their individual play, and implored them to take more pride and compete.But when Ham turned his attention to Westbrook and his specific individual struggles, sources say the future Hall of Famer appeared to take it personally.
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