Russell Westbrook being moved to a bench role could alter the season for the Los Angeles Lakers.
On November 29, 2008, Russell Westbrook started for the first time in his career for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Since that night, Westbrook has started in 931 consecutive games. Westbrook has been a successful starter in the NBA, achieving many records and winning a lot of basketball games.
However, during his tenure as a starter, Westbrook’s team has never reached the peak of the NBA summit of winning a championship. If things do not turn around quickly, then neither will the Los Angeles Lakers this season.
This is why Westbrook must take a step back and come off the bench for the Lakers to win the title. When Westbrook was teammates with Carmelo Anthony in Oklahoma City in 2017, Anthony laughed at the idea of coming off the bench. Then, Melo nearly fell out of the league, and suddenly coming off the bench sounded like a much more enticing offer.
I fear the same thing could happen to Westbrook. Things did not work out for Russ in Houston, Washington, and five games in, it is not panning out much differently in Los Angeles. The demotion from a starting slot to the sixth man is a hard pill to swallow for any NBA player, some far greater than others. Russ will undoubtedly fall into that latter category.
However, the transition can be done. Take Anthony for example, after spending nearly an entire season out of the league, Melo revitalized his career with the Portland Trail Blazers so much so, he had his pick of where to play when he entered free agency this past summer. To that end, let’s examine three reasons why Westbrook should move to LA’s second unit.