Lakers News: Russell Westbrook Departed Hornets Game With Injury

LA's reserve point guard has been grappling with this for a while.

Los Angeles Lakers reserve point guard Russell Westbrook exited last night's otherwise-triumphant 121-115 victory over the Charlotte Hornets with what Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet reports was left foot soreness.

“I just got the report that he got foot soreness at halftime," LA head coach Darvin Ham told reporters postgame. “As a staff, we just decided to shut him down.”

The 6'3" veteran point guard departed the game for good with 1:30 left in the first half. He finished with an uninspiring stat line of two points on 1-of-8 shooting, four boards, and two dimes in 11:22 of action for LA.

Missing a little time with a mysterious foot ailment in and of itself wouldn't be so alarming -- had Westbrook not previously missed two consecutive games weeks ago with the same issue. Trudell reiterates that Brodie was shelved for games on December 19th and 21st with the ailment.

Westbrook has looked completely rejuvenated after being moved to the bench two games into the 2022-23 NBA season. He is in the last year of a five-year, $205 million maximum-salaried contract extension he initially inked with the Oklahoma City Thunder following his 2016-17 MVP campaign. Assuming the 6'3" vet can recover quickly from this foot ailment, he is now the odds-on favorite for a different kind of postseason hardware.

On the season, he is averaging 14.3 points on .404/.273/.679 shooting splits, 7.6 dimes, 6.2 boards and 0.9 steals a night. He remains a critical playmaker and scorer for LA, though that hasn't exactly quelled rumors he could be flipped before the impending February 9th trade deadline.