Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
Some Scouts And Executives Reportedly Don’t View Russell Westbrook As A Useful Player At This Point In Time
Last summer, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook, who was coming off another triple-double season for the Washington Wizards. The 33-year old was brought in to take the load off of LeBron James and address the team’s lack of scoring punch in their backcourt. Unfortunately, things didn’t happen as expected.
During the year, Westbrook struggled tremendously trying to fit in alongside a ball-dominant player in LeBron. His production has also dropped steadily to averages of 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game to go along with lackluster efficiency of 44.4% shooting from the field and 29.8% from the three-point line.
The Lakers are well-aware that their Westbrook experiment turned out to be a huge failure, and now, they may be better off moving the veteran point guard in the upcoming summer.
However, the Lakers may find it difficult to trade Westbrook given his massive contract and reputation around the NBA, as according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, some scouts and executives around the NBA don’t view the former league MVP as a useful player anymore.
“To other teams, Westbrook represented a one-year problem on the books as a way to erase long-term commitments to other players,” Woike reported. “Some scouts and executives around the league don’t view Westbrook as a useful player at this stage, especially with a nearly $50 million price tag.”
