For the first time since becoming a Laker in the summer of 2021 Russell Westbrook came off the bench in the final preseason game against the Kings.
He had to leave the game in the first quarter after playing just five minutes due to a hamstring injury. Despite the injury, the former NBA MVP started the season opener against the Warriors.
During a postgame press conference he told the media that the injury was a result of him not knowing to how to prepare for a game when he is coming off the bench.
Former NBA champion Richard Jefferson thinks that Westbrook’s comment was him sending a message to the Lakers. “This is what I’m going to say. There’s one word here – he was sending a message,” he said on ESPN’s NBA Today.
“He was sending a message that if you guys try and do this, this is what’s going to go down, like, ‘Oh my hamstrings are… If I’m not starting and I’m probable, then I won’t be there to start the season.’ And then it becomes this distraction then all of a sudden the ball starts to move a little bit faster than everyone thinks.
“But this was a message, that’s all it was. Then he sends another message no different than what we talked about last season at the end of the year – ‘I didn’t know it…’ You’re a professional. Be a professional, figure it out. Our job is not to start you and sacrifice our team and everything because you can’t figure it out.
“I don’t think it’s fair to Russ because Russ doesn’t have the things around him that he needs to be succeed. I talked about that earlier. But ultimately this is a message and it’s whether or not he’s going to get it, right?
“They tried to start him they tried to have him come off the bench and then Frank Vogel’s gone, ‘we’re going to figure this out.’ Now the new coach is, like, ‘Well, what do we think about bringing you off the bench.’ ‘Ah, my hamstring hurts… blah blah blah that’s not going to be… I don’t even know what to do.'”
