- Bulls legend Scottie Pippen pens emotional letter to his son following his deal with Lakers
- Pacers lottery pick challenges LeBron James: ‘A lot of people say he’s great…he’s going to have to show me he’s better than me’
- Report: Lakers have the most interest out of all teams in Kyrie Irving
- Darvin Ham and Rob Pelinka have had multiple meetings with Russell Westbrook, imploring him to be defense-first player
- 3 reasons the Lakers should stay far away from Kyrie Irving
- Report: Lakers make trade for 2nd-round pick in 2022 NBA Draft
- Brian Windhorst says Kyrie Irving joining Lakers for mid-level exception can’t be ruled out
- Western Conference executive says ‘most likely scenario’ is Russell Westbrook going back to OKC Thunder
- Report: Kyrie Irving has had ‘recent contact’ with LeBron James to ‘presumably discuss a potential reunion’
- Report: Lakers considered ‘most significant’ threat to land Kyrie Irving
Russell Westbrook’s surprising response to receiving criticism from fans since joining Lakers
- Updated: January 13, 2022

About midway through the 2021-22 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling with a 21-21 record, and the scapegoat for many fans has been star point guard Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook had a constructive response when he was asked about how he deals with the ample criticism he has received.
“I think, for me, I look at it in a positive way, and I look at it like this: Since I’ve been in the league, every arena, fans, whoever, the jokes…whatever it is that it may be, I take it as a compliment because if I wasn’t out here, and I hadn’t done anything in this game, they wouldn’t even pay no mind to what I’m doing and how I’m doing it,” said Westbrook.
The Lakers traded three productive role players in Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell to get Westbrook last summer.
He has played well a good deal of the time this season, but he is currently in the midst of an offensive slump.
On Wednesday, the Lakers blew a double-digit lead and lost to the Sacramento Kings, and Westbrook was one of the culprits, as he shot just 2-of-14 from the field and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
On the bright side, he has done a remarkable job of limiting his turnovers in the last four games.
The Lakers have reportedly been putting out feelers on potentially trading Westbrook, but it doesn’t appear they are actually serious about dealing the perennial All-Star.
The fact that he is owed over $47 million next season (if he opts into the final year on his contract) will make it very difficult to pull off a trade, even if L.A. gets serious about doing so.