Everyone knows the Los Angeles Lakers have been trying very hard to trade Russell Westbrook after his first season with the team turned out to be a disaster.
But there is still a chance he will remain a member of the team this season.
Most feel there is no way to salvage anything with him still on the roster, but there are a few people holding out hope that the situation could still turn out well.
One of them is Norm Nixon, a former All-Star guard who won two NBA championships with the Lakers in the early 1980s.
He thinks new head coach Darvin Ham can push the right buttons when it comes to integrating Westbrook with the rest of the roster.
Via ClutchPoints:
“Absolutely, it can work there,” Nixon told ClutchPoints. “I think Darvin Ham will be able to figure it out. I mean, Russell still has a lot of talent. He’s not the Russell Westbrook he was at 22 (years old) and nobody is that after they’ve played a few years, but Russell has a lot left in his engine.”
Ham has made it clear Westbrook needs to focus a lot more on defense and be active when he doesn’t have the ball on offense in addition to pushing the pace, something he has always excelled at.
It remains to be seen if the former league MVP will adjust his game after 14 seasons in the NBA.