Russell Westbrook of the Los Angeles Lakers has received his fair share of criticism over the last year.
Big things were expected from him when he was traded to the Lakers last summer and, almost immediately, it was clear that it wasn’t working out as expected.
Westbrook’s first year with LA was incredibly rough and he played far worse than ever before.
This has led many to say the trade for Westbrook was a huge mistake and one of LA’s biggest blunders ever.
But one NBA player thinks LA was right to take a chance on Westbrook.
And that player is none other than Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
Draymond defends Lakers’ decision to acquire Russ
“You’d be out of your mind not to ask for Russell Westbrook. … If you can get Russell Westbrook, you get Russell Westbrook and try to make that work because if it works, who is going to stop you?”https://t.co/SoRc1Mtgpa
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) September 16, 2022
Speaking about Westbrook coming to LA, Green opened up about why the team made the move:
“You’d be out of your mind not to ask for Russell Westbrook. … If you can get Russell Westbrook, you get Russell Westbrook and try to make that work because if it works, who is going to stop you?”
When Green puts it that way, you can understand what he is talking about: yes, there were risks with signing Westbrook but there was a lot of potential for upsides too.
That trade isn’t working out so far but will Westbrook’s fate with the team turn around soon?
Rating Westbrook
People give Westbrook a very hard time right now but it should be remembered that he was once the league’s MVP and was playing much better even just a couple of seasons ago.
There is a chance that he could rebound and play like his older self soon.
Maybe he just needs a lot of time to adjust to his new team and his new role.
That’s what the Lakers are counting on because they’d much rather see vintage Westbrook on the court than send him away to another team.
