The night belonged to LeBron James as he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, but that was the only the thing the Los Angeles Lakers could celebrate as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
While everyone appropriately celebrated James and his historic accomplishment, it was jarring to see the Lakers look so flat against a Thunder team that was on the end of a back-to-back set. To make the situation worse, it was a pivotal game for Los Angeles as they fall even farther behind in the Western Conference standings.
The defense was almost non-existent the entire game, leaving the Lakers to try and overcome another deficit as they went into the locker rooms at halftime. During the break, it seems tensions rose as Darvin Ham and Russell Westbrook reportedly got verbally into it, via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
ESPN Sources: Lakers G Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the halftime locker room on Tuesday vs. OKC. Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of game late in second quarter.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2023
Voices were raised in locker room, but discussion turned back to trying to win game vs. Thunder, sources said. Ham closed game with Westbrook, who had a season-high 14 points in fourth quarter. Ham and Westbrook dapped up prior to leaving arena later in night. https://t.co/8cch24Sgbq
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2023
Fights between coaches and players happen all the time in sports, and this particular incident is no different. With L.A. trailing, there is going to be some natural frustration on both parties and it sounds like the two were able to reconcile when the game was over.
However, the timing of this report is interesting considering the NBA trade deadline is on Thursday. Westbrook has been embroiled in numerous trade rumors this season as the Lakers look to improve the roster, and this leak feels like someone within the organization trying to apply pressure to get a deal done.
Whatever the case may be, the purple and gold are running out of time to right the ship if they want to get to the playoffs. It’ll be interesting to see if Westbrook is a Laker after the deadline.
Russell Westbrook not paying attention to trade rumors
For all his on-court flaws, the one thing Westbrook has been is mature as his name continues to swirl in the rumor mill. Although it would be easy for him to go rogue, Westbrook said he is focused on remaining ready and professional despite all the outside noise.
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