LOS ANGELES — There was an air of relief surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers hours after the trade deadline, as things felt a little lighter and more at ease.
The easy answer is pointing to the departure of Russell Westbrook after a year and a half of awkward moments, tacit finger-pointing and future Hall of Famers not putting it together despite vows that they would.
Westbrook and a handful of other Lakers were sent out in separate deals, changing the personnel and perhaps the chemistry — if nothing else, the optimism surrounding the remaining two months of the season.
Trades tend to do that, particularly for underachieving teams. Particularly teams in desperate need for a shot in major markets with the eyes of the NBA constantly on them, especially in the midst of an all-time scoring chase.
A trail of rumors accompanied Westbrook on his way out of town, and even the groundwork was being laid for such an event in the days leading up to the trade deadline. In a sense, one could say he played right into the hands of his own worst perceptions, his play no longer excellent enough to excuse the glaring issues that have always come along with the Westbrook roller coaster.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham has always played it direct with Westbrook, as he promised to do with every player dating back to the day he was hired. Westbrook’s defiance has been a trademark, and one’s view — from the outside or internally — depends on the result more than the vantage point.
If he’s racking up triple-doubles, he’s relying on his own self-confidence and blocking out anyone who has the nerve to suggest a different approach. When he’s struggled, as he’s done mightily in some spots, it’s his stubbornness and lack of accountability holding him back.
Westbrook has never been one to acknowledge his limitations, even during his heyday. For the Lakers to expect anything different meant they didn’t watch his movies — some 15 years of films.
Westbrook hasn’t seemed to fully grasp where he is in his career, a delusion that doesn’t register as uncommon among aging players. The wayward passes and volume of 3s, nearly four per game at a 29% clip — doesn’t exactly scream out “awareness.” Playing in his hometown, in front of family and friends, probably produced a level of nerves and expectations he wasn’t able to fulfill within himself.
And when things started going downhill, the more down he got on himself, the more determined he became to prove people wrong even if he was never going to be right.
Where he goes now, likely to the buyout market where he’ll try to latch onto another team for the rest of the season, is often the first salvo in a player taking the exit ramp to retirement.
There was palpable frustration with Westbrook, and that it boiled over into a halftime verbal tête-à-tête with Ham on Tuesday night wasn’t a shock to those who’ve been aware of the dynamic all season, sources told Yahoo Sports.
It was a weird vibe all around the Lakers on Tuesday, a celebratory day with LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Whether it was Westbrook and his performance or Anthony Davis showing what looked like bad body language when James broke the record, there was a need for a real broom and dustpan in the aftermath.
Ham wouldn’t say what rhetoric he heard about Davis in the past day or so, but said, “What was being reported was absolutely not the case. And I’ll just leave it there.”
That was in the pregame of the Lakers’ Thursday night loss to Milwaukee. Davis didn’t even want to be asked about it in the postgame, but said he was frustrated by the Lakers losing a game they needed to win in order to keep pace in the West against an opponent they’re battling with, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
At the time of James’ 35th and 36th points, he actually pulled the Lakers to within 5 at the end of the third, 104-99.
It’s difficult to assume Ham or Davis weren’t being straight, but it certainly feels like there was more to it than expressed — whether it was Westbrook or something far more layered is something that can only be speculated at this point.
And mums the word on everything else in Lakerland.
The Lakers actually made out, all things considered. Getting D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba — four rotation players in addition to picking up Rui Hachimura recently — has changed at least the outlook for the near future.
It was in sharp contrast to the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that tinkers around the edges but hasn’t made wholesale changes in some time. They picked up Jae Crowder in the aftermath of the Kevin Durant trade, but are relying on continuity and a certain level of corporate knowledge to keep themselves at or near the top of the East.
If nothing else, they know who they are.
The Lakers are desperate for that knowledge and feel they’ve changed the juju in sending Westbrook elsewhere.
Teams get random jolts during the season, and for the Lakers, it’s been almost two years of talking themselves into the James/Davis/Westbrook partnership working.
Remember the wild scene in Detroit last season in November, when James and Pistons center Isaiah Stewart got into it, leading to a bloody Stewart fighting through assistant coaches to get into James’ airspace?
Well, the Lakers won that game and vowed it would be some turning point of their season, that it would galvanize them. It didn’t, but there were other checkpoints that brought about a similar optimism.
They don’t have to lie to themselves about that anymore. It seemed doomed from the start, with little chance of success if both James and Westbrook were 10 years younger and in full athletic prime.
Westbrook has some soul-searching to do if he wants his career to continue, or at least if he wants a different chapter to close it.
But the Lakers, who are closer to the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes in the standings than the penthouse of the West, have some soul-searching and honest conversations to conduct among themselves, too.