LeBron James and Anthony Davis multiple times said that they let Russell Westbrook be himself during the 2021-22 season but he is here to let the world know that they are big liars. This is what Westbrook said when a reporter asked about LeBron and Davis’ claim about letting him be himself during the 2021/22 season via Clutch Points;
When asked by a reporter to share his thoughts on LeBron and AD saying multiple times in the season that they let Russ be himself, Westbrook called out this statement as a blatant lie:
“Well, that wasn’t true. Let’s be honest,” Westbrook said.
Westbrook is disputing the notion that LeBron and Davis gave him the leeway to play his game. Apparently, Russ believes that this was never the case in the first place and that he was never given the opportunity to be himself throughout the season.
That wasn’t all for Westbrook. The former league MVP also decided to call out the Lakers for clipping his wings, so to speak: “When I first got here, I just felt that I never was given a fair chance to be who I needed to be to better help this team,” the Lakers guard said.
When asked if there were specific points in the season where he felt like himself, Russ noted that this came far and few in between: “Ahh, very rarely. There were times and spurts, but I was just trying to find my way honestly,” he said.
Russ isn’t holding back here. He’s basically pinning a lot of the blame on his teammates for his poor play this season. He didn’t exactly lambast LeBron and Davis, but he did imply that they were lying throughout the season whenever they said that they were giving Russ the space he needed to “be Russ.”
It is interesting to note that it was because of LeBron and AD’s persuasion that the Lakers signed Westbrook in the first place. Reports suggest that prior to trading for Russ, the Lakers—or at least team general manager Rob Pelinka—were set on bringing Buddy Hield to Hollywood. This was before LeBron and Davis met with Westbrook to discuss his potential role with the 2020 champions. Clearly, this did not work out as any of them expected it to.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis are yet to respond to Russell Westbrook calling their claim that they let him be himself in the 2021-22 season a big lie.
Russ went on to say that Vogel had something against him and he wasn’t put in a position to succeed with Lakers.
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