Russell Westbrook brushed off criticism directed his way this season.
“Honestly, I think I’ve been fine,” the nine-time All-Star told reporters Monday. “The conversation has been heavily on how I’m playing and what I’m doing, but I think people are expecting me to have f–king 25, 15 and 15, which, that is not normal. Everybody has to understand, like, that’s not a normal thing that people do consistently.”
“Everybody wants me to do this but then they don’t want me to do this,” Westbrook said. “Honestly, I’m over the whole situation with what everyone else wants me to do and what they think I should be doing.”
Westbrook had a rough night shooting the ball in the Lakers’ Christmas Day loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. He scored 13 points on 4-for-20 shooting, which included 11 missed shots in the restricted area, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Westbrook is the only one of the big three that has played in all 34 of the Lakers’ games. LeBron James has only played in 22. Anthony Davis has only appeared in 27 and is expected to miss the next month with a sprained MCL in his left knee.
Westbrook is averaging 19.8 points, his lowest scoring output since his second year in the league, while shooting 46% from the field, 31.1% from 3 and a career-worst 65% from the foul line.
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He may not be fully at fault for the Lakers start, but he isn’t exactly helping matters like the franchise thought he would when the team acquired him.
“People are saying ‘let Russ be Russ,’ I think nobody understands what that means,” Westbrook continued. “I think people just say it — ‘let Russ be Russ’ — but nobody actually knows what that means but myself. And I’m gonna lean on that and make sure I do what I’m supposed to do. And let everything else outside the locker room, whatever that may be, take care of itself.”
