Lakers’ LeBron James Privately Had Big Issues with All-Star Teammate

The Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs again. They struggled with injuries, inconsistency, COVID, chemistry issues, etc. Russell Westbrook’s arrival in Los Angeles made everything worse. Even LeBron James had an issue with his teammate.

LeBron has had an excellent relationship with most of his teammates. He is trying to build strong chemistry with each and every player on the roster. His situation with Kyrie Irving was one of the very few problems LeBron had back in the days.

Jovan Buha from The Athletic discussed LeBron’s issue with Russ. Yes, the four-time NBA champion didn’t say a word about Broddie and even praised his talent. The Lakers traded three players to get Westbrook and their experiment didn’t work. LeBron knew that Russ won’t help the Lakers.

“All season long, they (LeBron and Anthony Davis) kind of had that mantra of let Russ be Russ and they never really took shots at him,” Buha said on his podcast called The Forum Club: A Show About The Los Angeles Lakers.” They always were publicly supportive of him, even when we were hearing behind the scenes that LeBron wasn’t necessarily the happiest with Russ and his play.”

LeBron James had issue with his teammate following bad game

The situation got so bad that Lakers fans started calling him “Westbrick”. Dan Woike and Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported that Lakers players had noticed LeBron’s body language every time Westbrook made a bad move.

“Midway through the season, players began to notice James’ body language after poor Westbrook play, an on-court sign of recognition that his and the Lakers’ plan wasn’t going to work,” they reported. “Some Lakers players were bothered by how regularly James’ shoulders would slump and how his head would hang after botched opportunities to score or defend.”

Westbrook’s future with the Lakers is hanging in the air. Everything points to the fact that he won’t enter the new season with the franchise. Rob Pelinka didn’t want to trade Westbrook at the deadline. However, he may consider cutting him in the offseason.

LeBron didn’t throw shade at Westbrook despite his struggles. He respected his talent and his incredible experience. Westbrook is a nine-time All-Star after all.

“One thing about Russ that I love and will always love is just his competitive spirit, what he brings to the game every single night,” LeBron said about Westbrook. “When you’re in a profession where so many injuries happen and so many things go on, to have a guy that’s reliable and can put on the uniform every single night, that’s something that I respect out of everything. I’m not gonna sit here and make decisions for the front office and things of that nature, but I love being a teammate with Russ and that’s just the way it is.”