Lakers News: Russell Westbrook Blames Hamstring Injury On Reserve Role

The postgame chatter this season is going to be legendary.

Following a 123-109 defeat at the hands of the reigning 2022 championship-winning Golden State Warriors last night, several Los Angeles Lakers did not mince words across an array of pretty peeved press conferences postgame. Current starting point guard Russell Westbrook had some intriguing insights into the sore left hamstring he battled through last night to produce a fairly respectable stat line (although he still made some very questionable decisions), a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double.

When asked by Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times whether his bench role during the team's 133-86 preseason loss to the Sacramento Kings (who honestly just looked deeper and better than the Lakers for the first time in... about 20 years) had an impact on his injuring his left hamstring, Westbrook jumped on that angle.

Westbrook revealed that he is “absolutely” is convinced that his one-off gig as a bench player could have been deleterious to his health. “I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,” Westbrook, who has started in 1005 out of a possible 1022 regular season games to this point, said. “Honestly I didn’t even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose. For me, obviously the way I play the game, it’s fast-paced, quick, stop-and-go. And I just happened to, when I subbed in, I felt something. Thought it was... didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t going to risk it in a preseason game. But definitely wasn’t something I was used to. Wasn’t warm enough. But that’s something I just wasn’t accustomed to.”

Westbrook, 34, seemed to enjoy returning to L.A.'s starting lineup, which for some reason also included 6'1" Patrick Beverley, who had replaced him as the starting point guard in the Kings loss. Beverley had a miserable, foul-plagued regular season debut as a Laker, while Westbrook fared relatively well.