No relationship is worth misery. Russell Westbrook and the Lakers is no

Long before I was ever anything close to what could be considered an expert on the NBA, I was something of an expert on relationships. I’ve always found human interaction fascinating (and that was even before the years of therapy). Relatedly, one of the many basketball hills I’m prone to die on is that it’s a relationships business. Chemistry, camaraderie and general good vibes are not only important to team success; they’re everything. So, needless to say, living in Los Angeles the last few years has made for intriguing proximity to one of the most interesting case studies on fractured relationships in the league: that between Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The present-day Lakers are, to put it in plain English, a mess. Placing the blame for that squarely on the shoulders of the mercurial Westbrook is woefully reductive, and certainly doesn’t tell the full story. For starters, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka just got a contract extension, which is somewhat puzzling given his less-than-stellar success rate in the years since the team’s 2020 championship (though some have argued that LeBron James’ opinion on the roster weighed heavily in decision making as well). Even dating back to a time before James signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018, the industry has kibitzed about the front office’s apparent ineptitude. But Westbrook’s $47m salary has certainly encumbered the team and limited any functional ability to build around its top-tier superstars in James and Anthony Davis. To put the $47m in perspective: it’s almost $3m more than James himself will make this season, and, staggeringly, more than everyone else on the team outside James and Davis makes combined. Directly or indirectly, Westbrook finds himself at the crux of the issue.

Like many relationships, the Lakers and Westbrook felt doomed from the start. Sure, when Westbrook arrived in Los Angeles, which happens to be his home town, for training camp in September of last year, the veteran point guard was coming off of an impressive season with the Washington Wizards. But the fit issues with the existing roster, especially James and Davis, were already glaring. Westbrook has never been known for his shooting accuracy, and is notorious for playing best in situations where he can be the ball-dominant scorer and orchestrator of the offense. He’s also never been outstanding defensively. After 20 seasons of watching James in the NBA, one formula has remained battle-tested and proven: surround him with shooters to space the floor, a few enthusiastic and hard-nosed defenders, and he will handle the rest. As talented as the one-time NBA MVP Westbrook may be, he is, realistically, none of the above. It was a recipe for disaster, and a disaster it’s been. As early as last Christmas, fans started clamoring for a trade, and Westbrook’s interactions with those fans, and their proxies in the media, grew more and more tense.