Lakers’ Russell Westbrook Experiment Could Lead To Sixth Man of the Year Award

Russell Westbrook’s improvements since being taken out of the starting rotation in Los Angeles have been noteworthy, which is why his name is starting to gain traction in early Sixth Man of the Year talk.

One of the biggest question marks entering the 2022-23 NBA season revolved around the Los Angeles Lakers and what would happen with nine-time All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook.

The NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles has struggled to fit in since arriving in Los Angeles ahead of the 2021-22 season and after failing to find a trade that was suitable in the offseason, the Lakers began this season with Westbrook still on their roster.

Well, after an 0-4 start to the year, the Lakers made a big change to their rotation by having Russell Westbrook come off-the-bench, something that they had experimented with and had been rumored to do since the preseason.

Again, the Lakers have continued to struggle since making this move, as they now find themselves 2-7 on the year, but Westbrook’s improved contributions to this team are very noticeable since first-year head coach Darvin Ham moved him to the bench.

Russell Westbrook in 5 games off the bench:

18 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST
18 PTS, 8 REB, 8 AST, 50% FG
13 PTS, 7 REB, 9 AST, 60% FG
28 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST, 64% FG
19 PTS, 3 REB, 10 AST, 3/5 3PM pic.twitter.com/gWLD3GBGMu

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) November 6, 2022

In five games off-the-bench this season, Westbrook is averaging 18.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and he is shooting 50.0 percent from the floor, 45.5 percent from three-point range.

In three games as a starter for the Lakers this year, Westbrook has averaged 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and has only shot 28.9 percent from the floor and 8.3 percent from three-point range.

“One of my goals is to get him in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year,” Ham said of Westbrook after their most recent overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans this past week. “And why not start now?”

Never in a million years would anyone think that Russell Westbrook, a nine-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion and former league MVP would be in consideration for Sixth Man of the Year, but this is where we are at so far this season with the Lakers!

Not being in the starting rotation and being a “bench player” may seem like a discredit to the talent that is Russell Westbrook in many people’s eyes, but given the way Los Angeles has constructed their roster and have failed to addresses their core needs as a franchise, this truly is not that crazy of a move.

What makes Westbrook such a fantastic, future Hall-of-Fame player is his explosiveness, athleticism and playmaking abilities with the ball in his hands. Unfortunately, he cannot display his talent alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis normally because they are two very ball-dominant players that run the offense for the Lakers.

Westbrook has never really been known to be an off-the-ball threat, hence why he struggled last season alongside Davis and James and why he once again struggled next to them to begin this season.

But, in the second-unit and coming off-the-bench, Russell Westbrook has been able to play to his strengths and once again prove his worth.

So what does this all mean for the Lakers? Is Russell Westbrook an actual candidate for Sixth Man of the Year?

There are other players around the league who come off-the-bench and contribute to more successful teams, so we may want to pump the breaks a little bit on this narrative for the Lakers’ guard, but Westbrook continuing to contribute at a relatively high-level off-the-bench is certainly a storyline and not just a headline in this league.

This is one of the keys to the Lakers finally being able to turn their misfortunes around and who knows, maybe Los Angeles will end up being a great team as the season progresses and Russell Westbrook will end up being one of the top bench contributors in the NBA.

Should this happen, he would undoubtedly be named the 2022-23 NBA Sixth Man of the Year, but a lot is going to happen for Los Angeles between now and the end of the season and based on the Lakers’ track record the last year or so, it is hard to envision this experiment working out long-term. 

---

The Fast Break Podcast hosted by our own Brett Siegel is now LIVE!

Be sure to catch up on the latest news and intel from around the league by checking out The Fast Break Podcast, now streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify with new episodes releasing every Friday.