Los Angeles Lakers: 3 overreactions from Russell Westbrook’s debut

Three takeaways from Russell Westbrook’s regular-season debut with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Russell Westbrook is an LA native and he attended college and played basketball for UCLA; once it became clear he was a bonafide superstar in the NBA, it always somewhat felt destined he would play for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Well, in the 2021-22 NBA season opener, he made his debut with the Lakers, and to say it fell flat would be an understatement. The stage was set, NBA on TNT, on opening night, versus his former rival the Golden State Warriors, and his first time taking the court with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

On the night, the Lakers were minus-23 during Russ’ 35 minutes on the floor the worst mark among any player on either squad. Enough negativity, for now, let’s get to three overreactions from The Brodie’s big debut.

Russ didn’t get enough touches 

The player with the most touches on the night for either team was LeBron, with 100 touches. The next highest was Steph Curry with 91 touches. Westbrook finished the evening with 77 touches, his fewest in a season debut or opener dating back to the 2013-14 season, where he had just 70 touches.

Third or fourth overall in touches per game is probably where he should be at this point in his career, given both teams are fully healthy. That is not the problem, the problem is the there may not be enough touches to go around on the Lakers.

Their four players with the most touches — LeBron, Westbrook, AD, and Rajon Rondo — combined for 305 touches. The rest of the Lakers combined touched the ball fewer than 150 times. For reference, the Warriors’ top-four players in touches combined for 272 touches, the rest of the roster combined for 173 touches.

Russ’ poor shooting 

Okay, let’s get this out of the way. Outside of LeBron and AD, nobody, not even Steph Curry, shot the ball great. Westbrook was no exception, he went 4-13 from the floor. The good news is he only took 13 shots, instead of continuing to hoist. The bad news is he went 0-4 from beyond the arc.

Those numbers just are not going to cut it. Westbrook must pick it up offensively. The most alarming aspect from Westbrook’s stat line was he did not attempt a single free throw. This is the first time that has occurred since February 20, 2020, when he was still with the Houston Rockets, ironically the game was also against the Golden State Warriors.

It’ll only get better from here

When asked about Westbrook’s performance during postgame LeBron described how hard Westbrook is on himself and urged his new teammate not to be so hard on himself and assured Westbrook it’s just one game.

Here is the best news for Westbrook and the Lakers: after their next three games versus the Suns, Grizzlies, and Spurs, they have a five-game stretch against the Thunder twice, the Rockets twice, and the Cavs once.

This is the perfect get-right stretch for the new trio to feel each other out, begin to gel, and start their quest to win the 2022 NBA championship.