Lakers News: The Latest On Russell Westbrook’s Opening Night Availability

Will Brodie suit up tonight?

Your Los Angeles Lakers will face off tonight against the Golden State, and they will be missing some role player depth -- but hey, at least they'll be getting the most expensive and least valuable role player in the league back in action, so that's something

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports that Russell Westbrook, the most expensive guy on a team fielding LeBron James and Anthony Davis, actually will be able to suit up tonight. The $47.1 million man of course departed the Lakers' miserable 133-86 preseason loss against the Sacramento Kings in the first quarter with a sore left hamstring, and had been considered day-to-day as recently as yesterday.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN offers a more cautionary take, saying that, while Westbrook was available for the Lakers' shootaround this morning, the 6'3" vet's status is still officially "probable."

Brodie was the 2021-22 iron man for L.A., playing in a team-most 78 of 82 possible games. He was not particularly good in those games, with The Ringer's Bill Simmons even arguing that he may have turned in one of the worst high-usage NBA seasons of all time:

Tried to figure out if Russ is having one of the 10 worst offensive seasons ever. Wanted people who played 50+ games for bad teams + struggled w/ real minutes/usage. Went with Usage Rate (at least 27%), MPG (33+), WS/48 (under 0.03), True Shooting (under 50%), TO’s (2+).

Well… pic.twitter.com/EhglRHhnYY

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 15, 2022

So does actually having Russell Westbrook potentially hurt L.A.'s chances of competing against an absolutely loaded Golden State Warriors club, who despite some recent chemistry issues still looks like one of the league's top teams heading into this season?

Well, somewhat. Because ultimately, there's almost no way this Los Angeles roster, which lacks much shooting or guard defense, can hope to contain a team that's this lethal on both sides of the ball, especially along the perimeter.

More troubling for the Lakers ahead of tonight's contest, however, is the real possibility that Anthony Davis (lower back soreness) and LeBron James (left foot soreness) may sit. With those two on the floor, the Lakers have at least a shot of pulling off the upset in an away game at Chase Center. With them in street clothes sitting on the bench, L.A. has zero chance this evening.