The Lakers lost to Timberwolves in the preseason, and some videos of suspected Westbrook's bad relationship with his teammates went viral on the Internet. One is that Westbrook greets his teammates at the pre-match appearance ceremony and returns to the player seat alone instead of getting together with other teammates. The other is that when the opponent's free throw, Beverly summoned his teammates, but Westbrook did not come for a long time. These scenes are interpreted by the outside world as Westbrook is not sociable. On the 14th, Westbrook responded to this in an interview with the media, saying that returning to the player seat before the game was his habit for many years. At the same time, I did not get together with my teammates immediately during the game because I wasted time by the theory of the referee and discussing defensive issues on the bench. Westbrook attributes these to video editing, but this is obviously unconvincing. On the contrary, it makes the outside world feel that Westbrook's position in the Lakers is very embarrassing.
Westbrook gave a detailed explanation of the editing of the two videos. He said: "I have always been this habit before the game. I returned to the player seat after saying hello to my teammates. This is not like this in the Lakers. I have always been like this in my career." In order to prove that Westbrook's statement is more convincing, Westbrook's wife and parent-child actions were taken and posted many pictures of Westbrook's previous entry ceremony on personal social media to support it.
At the same time, Westbrook also explained the content of the second picture. He said: "I discussed the free throw issue with the referee, and then I turned around and talked about the defense with the bench. I didn't notice that Beverly summoned everyone, and then I heard it, and then I went over. That's the truth. But what is presented on the Internet is different. It's the editing issue. They cut a lot of things off and then took a different look. I don't care. This is the Internet. They can do anything, but I just did what I should do."
Westbrook explained this seemingly makes sense, but it's actually difficult to be completely convinced. Westbrook is still a maverick player. In the Lakers, even if he is no longer the superstar and does not have the original team status, he is unwilling to make too much changes. This is also an important reason why the outside world believes that Westbrook's position in the Lakers is embarrassing.
At the same time, since last season until now, there have been news that the Lakers are trying to trade Westbrook, but they have not been able to get the right bargaining chips, so the transaction has not yet happened. He lacks the status of the Lakers and has been in a state of being traded. Even if he can get a super high salary of more than $47 million in the new season, Westbrook will not be able to live such a life.
text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xiang
edited by Zhang Yingchuan
