Patrick Beverley Says 'It's F--ked Up What Happened' to Russell Westbrook with Lakers

Having moved on from his war of words with Trae Young, Patrick Beverley is now focusing his attention on relitigating Russell Westbrook's tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers and why the nine-time All-Star is currently unsigned.

On the latest episode of his podcast, Beverley says "it's f--ked up what happened" to Westbrook because he got a "bad take" due to how his time with the Lakers played out.

Beverley's issue seems to be that Westbrook is not currently signed to a team right now with less than one week to go before the start of the regular season, but he hasn't been on the Lakers in more than two years.

There were certain things about the way Westbrook going to the Lakers was presented that didn't do him any favors. For instance, it was reported that LeBron James preferred the Lakers acquire Westbrook instead of a different deal that would have brought Buddy Hield to Los Angeles prior to the start of the 2021-22 season.

The rationale at the time was James, who missed 27 games during the 2020-21 campaign, wore down because he was carrying a heavy burden without another playmaking point guard on the roster and Westbrook could fill that void.

Westbrook was no longer at the point in his career when he could be the primary focal point of an offense. He spent his first season with the Lakers in the starting lineup before shifting primarily to a bench role in the 2022-23 season.

In the aftermath of his trade to the Utah Jazz in February 2023, The Athletic's Sam Amick and Jovan Buha reported things with Westbrook and the Lakers had grown "toxic" with coaches being "frustrated" at his behavior in the time leading up to the three-team deal.

Despite not lasting two full seasons with the Lakers, Westbrook's tenure with them is actually his second-longest stint with a club in the NBA by games played (130), ahead of only his 11 years with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Westbrook has since done a decent job of acclimating himself to a sixth man role in stints with the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. He has averaged 12.2 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game in 143 games over the past two seasons.

There's certainly an argument that Westbrook is good enough to be on an NBA roster right now, but he has such a specific skill set that it would require the right team being able to fit him in to make it work.