Lakers' LeBron James 'Salutes' Russell Westbrook and Players Traded at Deadline

After playing in his first game since the trade deadline on Wednesday, LeBron James gave a shoutout to all of the Los Angeles Lakers players who were dealt last week.

Speaking to reporters after the Lakers' 120-102 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, James wanted to "shout out and salute" Russell Westbrook and the four other players traded by the team:

"Russ, {Patrick Beverley], [Juan Tuscano-Anderson], [Damian Jones] and Thomas [Bryant]. Those five guys. We all started the season together and tried to work to make some things happen and be the best that we could be out on the floor. So I salute those guys and their commitment to us trying to be as good as we could be on the floor. And right now, I mean, I like the guys that we have coming in. I mean, it's going to take some time for us to get to know one another, but I know that they play the game at a high level."

General manager Rob Pelinka remade the Lakers' roster for the stretch run this season. Westbrook, Toscano-Anderson, Jones, Beverley and Bryant were traded away.

They were replaced by D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Davon Reed and Mo Bamba.

While James offered a farewell message to the players who were traded, he also spoke about the work ahead for the new-look Lakers as they try to make a playoff push with 23 games remaining.

"And every game is going to be tough for us, especially going down the stretch, knowing the type of push that we need to make. I want the guys to enjoy the break but don't get 100 percent detached because we want to come back and try to keep this thing going," James said. "I feel really good about what we have brewing, but it's going to take a lot of commitment from us going down the stretch so I'm looking forward to that."

The trades were a clear acknowledgment by Pelinka that what Los Angeles attempted to do coming into the season wasn't working. They were 25-30 before the moves were made on Feb. 9.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that Westbrook and head coach Darvin Ham had a "brief, heated verbal exchange" during halftime of a Feb. 7 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of the game late in the second quarter," Wojnarowski wrote.

Things did settle down with the team turning its discussion back to the Thunder after the exchange, according to Wojnarowski.

On an episode of NBA Today, ESPN's Dave McMenamin said one source told him that trading Westbrook was removing "a vampire" who "sucks the blood out of the locker room."

Much was made of the dynamic between Westbrook and James dating back to last offseason when they sat on opposite ends of the court while attending a summer-league game.

James did publicly support Westbrook, including saying in an August tweet he "can't wait for him to go off this season!!"

Wednesday marked the first time the Lakers' new-look roster played together. James sat out the previous three games with a foot injury. They shot 53.0 percent from the field as a team. New Orleans' 102 points were the third-fewest by a Lakers' opponent this season.

Los Angeles is going into the All-Star break 13th in the Western Conference standings and two games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final spot in the play-in tournament.