"I'm The Point Guard. Give Me That Sh*t, Get Out Of The Way": Westbrook To Vogel

According to a new report in the Los Angeles Times, Russell Westbrook "never respected" head coach Frank Vogel. And in fact, when Vogel told the team in training camp that whoever gets the rebound should bring the ball up, Westbrook shot back:

'Nope, I’m the point guard. Give me that s–t. Everybody get out the way.’

And it was all downhill from there, wrote Dan Woike and Broderick Turner in the Times. “From that point on, in training camp, it was a wrap, ‘cause now Russ is a fish out of water. He doesn’t know what to do. That’s how that started," said an anonymous inside Lakers source. 

"Russ never respected Frank from Day 1." 

Players noticed LeBron's poor body language after botched Westbrook plays

Midway through the season, according to the report, Lakers players "began to notice (LeBron) James’ body language after poor Westbrook play, an on-court sign of recognition that his and the Lakers’ plan wasn’t going to work. Some Lakers players were bothered by how regularly James’ shoulders would slump and how his head would hang after botched opportunities to score or defend."

So now the Lakers go into an offseason with the big question of what to do with Westbrook hanging over their heads. According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, they have no intention of waiving him which would allow them to spread his remaining $47M owed over three seasons to reduce the cap hit. Her sources also tell her that Westbrook has no desire to take a financial hit in a buyout agreement. 

We learned yesterday that at least one surprising team could have interest in taking on Westbrook's contract in order to free up cap space in the summer of '23. 

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports