Pat Bev has reacted to the viral video of Russell Westbrook refusing to join Huddles and according to him, it’s ‘Funny as Hell’! According to Vlad;
Russell Westbrook was the source of much discussion during the Los Angeles Lakers penultimate preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves when he refused to join the pregame huddle after player introductions and waved off a defensive huddle called together by Patrick Beverley.
During his podcast, Pat Bev addressed the viral video and admitted he found it amusing.
“After the game, everybody was like, ‘Why’d he do you like that?’ I’m like, ‘Damn, what happened?’ They sent it to me, obviously it’s funny as hell,” Beverley said.
Pat Bev expressed how much scrutiny Westbrook is under as a result of being the subject of rampant trade rumors. “We told him on the plane like, ‘Hey Russ, anything you do, bro, they’re like gonna attack you. So, damn, I’m sorry you gotta go through that,'” Beverley said. However, Beverley said Russ hasn’t let it impact him on the court or as a teammate. “It don’t faze him, but as a human, you gotta keep your sanity in this s–t because you can kind of lose yourself,” Beverley said. “But man, mentally he’s been solid, mentally he’s been strong.”
Russ will come off the bench, the streets are saying.
The Lakers are hoping that the addition of head coach Darvin Ham can get Westbrook to buy in and have a bounce-back season for L.A.
Part of getting Westbrook to buy in involves something that Frank Vogel never tried in 2021-22 and that’s bringing him off the bench to run the second unit. Ham has been clear since the beginning that they may test it out at some point, and they finally did in the preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook only played five minutes before suffering a hamstring injury, however, so Ham didn’t get the look he wanted to with the point guard coming off the bench. That leaves a big question mark going into the Lakers’ season opener as it remains to be seen which direction Ham will go.
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