Nina Westbrook, the wife of Utah Jazz guard Russell Westbrook, clapped back at ESPN on Thursday following the NBA trade deadline. Nina Westbrook took umbrage with ESPN’s Dave McMeniman for saying a Los Angeles Lakers source told him trading Russell Westbrook was like “you remove a vampire from the locker room.”
Nina Westbrook commented on ESPN’s IG account where a graphic with the comment from the Lakers source was posted.
“This is just sick ESPN…Russell is no vampire,” wrote Nina Westbrook. “I have school aged children who have to listen to their peers repeat the nasty things that you guys say on television about their father. I guess I will prepare myself to explain to my 5 year old that his dad is not actually a vampire.”
"I have school aged children who have to listen to their peers repeat the nasty things that you guys say on television about their father. I guess I will prepare myself to explain to my 5 year old that his dad is not actually a vampire."
Russell Westbrook's wife, Nina on IG š³ pic.twitter.com/U9X3uW4WW9
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 10, 2023
NBA teams leak information about players all the time
It is a known fact that teams will leak negative information about a player after he’s traded. It’s a sick trend that has been going on for decades. People within the Lakers organization and Klutch Sports Agency, for whatever reason, didn’t like Russel’s time with the Lakers. Ironic, considering LeBron James pushed for this trade to happen.
"As one source told me, 'You remove a vampire from the locker room.' That meaning a vampire sucks the blood out of the locker room."
How ESPN's Dave McMenamin described the Lakers moving on from Russell Westbrook, per his source.pic.twitter.com/bDWqbxvQbP
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 10, 2023
Now, it’s fair to say Russell Westbrook was not good on the court while he was a member of the Lakers. Everyone saw that. But he was a declining player before he got to Los Angeles. Why would anyone within or associated with the Lakers think that would change?
Westbrook did make adjustments to his game this season and came off the bench and was good through most of the game with his play. However he’s unplayable in the fourth quarter because he still makes bad decisions, he doesn’t defend, and after a decade plus in the league still hasn’t learned to shoot.
Again, all of this was known before he became a member of the Lakers.
The Russell Westbrook acquisition was never going to work
If your goal is to win a title and you decide to be a top heavy roster with three max contract level players. All three must play at All-NBA and/or MVP levels for it to work. The salary cap makes it next to impossible for you to pivot otherwise. Westbrook simply wasn’t that level player.
Calling Westbrook a vampire and leaking stories about he and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham getting into it in the locker room is poor form. It’s even worse for ESPN to carry the Lakersā water here and do this for them.
That’s not journalism. That’s an organization being petty.
You traded a player you no longer wanted. Move on.
It will be interesting to see how the new-look Lakers perform going forward. No longer held back by Westbrook. Let’s see if LeBron, Anthony Davis, new additions D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt can change the tide.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors the Lakers have 25 games left in the season. They are in 13th place, two and a half games back of the last play-in spot with three teams ahead of them. They are four and a half games back of the last playoff spot, with seven teams ahead.
Let’s see if these reinforcements change the Lakers’ fortunes this season.
