James Worthy Says Lakers' Russell Westbrook Has to 'Stop Feeling Sorry for Himself'

Los Angeles Lakers legend James Worthy said point guard Russell Westbrook must "stop feeling sorry for himself" to help the Lakers during the stretch run of the 2021-22 regular season.

Worthy provided his view on Westbrook during a conversation Wednesday on Spectrum SportsNet (via TalkBasket), saying he believes the nine-time All-Star is thinking too much and it's caused him to alter his playstyle to the detriment of his production.

"He knows he's vital to this team, and he knows that his performance is not what he'd like it to be," Worthy said. "I personally don't like to see Russ with zero turnovers. I like to see him with at least three or four maybe. That means he's aggressive; he has an aggressive style of play, and when he's in that mode, he's productive."

Westbrook hasn't shied away from taking responsbility for his poor play throughout the season. That continued after Tuesday's 109-104 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, which saw him score just 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field.

"Got to be better overall," the 2016-17 NBA MVP told reporters. "What I'm doing right now ain't good enough. It ain't good enough."

As Worthy referenced, Westbrook finished the game with no turnovers, but his play as a whole still wasn't good enough to push L.A. into the win column.

The 33-year-old has never been an efficient shooter. His career shooting percentage stands at 43.7 percent, including an unsightly 30.4 percent from three-point range.

Yet the idea when he was acquired from the Washington Wizards in a blockbuster trade last summer was that putting him alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis would lessen the shooting burden and allow him to thrive with his all-around production.

It hasn't materialized that way, in large part because both James and Davis have missed sizable chunks of the campaign because of injuries, such as Davis' foot ailment that's sidelined him since mid-February.

So Westbrook has been thrust into a high-volume role on pretty much a nightly basis, and the results speak for themselves. He ranks 247th out of 250 qualified players in FiveThirtyEight's WAR metric, and the Lakers own a 27-34 record.

Worthy isn't the first Lakers legend to provide him with some advice. In January, Shaquille O'Neal discussed a conversation he had with the two-time scoring champion about slowing down the game:

Los Angeles is running out of time for Westbrook to find a rhythm. It sits ninth in the Western Conference and is facing competition from the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings for a play-in tournament berth.

The Lakers have a key game Thursday night when they take on the rival Los Angeles Clippers, who are eighth in the West at 33-31.