Colin Cowherd: âBoats donât sink because of the water around them, boats sink because of the water you let into the boat. LeBron let Westbrook into the Lakers. This was going to be a great year and now theyâre sinking. LeBron and Westbrook like each other. The Lakers didnât really want Westbrook, Vogel didnât want him, but they brought in Westbrook. I thought it was fairly obvious why they were bringing him in. NOT for the playoffs â get him away for the playoffs. Old roster, AD is always hurt, LeBron increasingly so, Carmelo the same, bring him in, 30 minutes a night, just get production out of him â heâs a hustler. Last night he was benched. This is the danger of bringing in fading stars. Frank Vogel had to ask permission in the last week just to put him on the bench in certain spots. For Westbrook, itâs his fourth team in four years. Vogel benching Westbrook sounded completely reasonable to me but LeBron and Carmelo were coddling, âI HOPE WESTBROOK IS OKAY!â But what if it isnât? So what. Fourth team in four years, outrageously expensive. Carmelo is very well-liked on that roster I am told. Heâs very supportive of players. Westbrook isnât. Westbrook couldnât get along with KD, couldnât get along with Harden, couldnât get along with LeBron. Why? Heâs kind of selfish. He wonât do the screens, he doesnât want to play defense, and heâs not really there to support his teammates like Melo is. Carmelo Anthony at some point came to terms that heâs a bench guy. Westbrook still sees himself as âITâS JUST A SLUMP! ITâS JUST A SIX-YEAR SHOOTING SLUMP! I'LL BREAK OUT OF IT ANYDAY NOW!â They didn't go asking Westbrook to carry them to a title, they just needed minutes. Almost everyone works with LeBron and he canât even do this. Westbrook needs a long and hard look in the mirror. Heâs like Cam Newton, the game has moved beyond him. What the game asks of stars now he doesnât do well. You have to ask Westbrook now to bench him in key spots? The babysitting and coddling for Russell Westbrook, they donât do that in baseball, they donât do that in football, they donât do it in soccer, and I donât think they do it in hockey. Youâre almost to the point in a Westbrook deal, and this is shocking to me, that youâre better to just write it off and move him. Just get him out of the locker room⌠Memo to NBA front offices: donât give special treatment to players who are no longer special. Westbrook isnât.â (Full Video Above)
Listen to Colin Cowherd explain why he thinks the Lakers should look to move Russell Westbrook as soon as possible, as the 33-year-old has watched his statistics plummet in January, shooting just .320 from the field this month, with only 13.8 points and 5.1 assists.
The Lakers dipped under .500 again Wednesday night after a home loss to lowly Indiana, and it came less than a week after their humiliating 37-point loss to Denver.
After finishing his third consecutive season averaging a triple-double with the Thunder after the 2018/2019 season, Westbrook has had disillusioned stints with the Rockets, Wizards, and now Lakers.
The NBA Trade Deadline is Thursday, February 10th.
Check out the video above as Colin details why it might be time for Los Angeles to pull the ripcord on a guy who the team doesnât want anywhere near the floor come playoff time, if the comatose Lakers can even navigate through the play-in games.
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