The Los Angeles Lakers were expected to be serious championship contenders when they traded for Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2021. Instead, they ended up winning 33 games and failed to reach the play-in tournament.
There were many reasons for that failure. Westbrook either couldn’t fit in or was not utilized properly. The rest of the roster consisted of over-the-hill role players. And LeBron James and Anthony Davis both spent extended stretches on the injured list. Yet Westbrook ended up as the scapegoat, at least publicly.
By now, everyone agrees trading for Westbrook was a mistake. Reportedly, that includes every member of the Lakers organization, even James (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via ESPN:
“Sources told ESPN that every member of the organization involved in the Russell Westbrook trade, including James, will admit they misjudged it, owning part of the blame,” Dave McMenamin wrote.
James reportedly was the impetus behind the Lakers trading for Westbrook. But by the middle of the 2021-22 campaign, his camp was reportedly pushing for Westbrook to be traded.
The Lakers ended up trading Westbrook last February in a package that brought them D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. Almost immediately, they went from mediocrity to championship contention, and they rode that momentum all the way to the Western Conference finals.
