Russell Westbrook’s LA homecoming didn’t precisely work out as deliberate.
As an alternative of serving to the Lakers win all of it, Westbrook was as a substitute traded to the Utah Jazz.
However regardless of the unlucky means issues panned out, LeBron James had a constructive message for Westbrook and the opposite traded Lakers.
“To begin with, I shout out and salute the blokes that left, Russ, Pat, JTA,” James stated. “Additionally, DJ and Thomas. These 5 guys. All of us began the season collectively and tried to work to make some issues occur and be the most effective that we may very well be out on the ground.
“So I salute these guys and their dedication to us making an attempt to be nearly as good as we may very well be on the ground. And proper now, I imply, I like the blokes that we have now coming in. “I imply, it’s going to take a while for us to get to know each other, however I do know that they play the sport at a excessive degree.”
James’ feedback comply with Lakers normal supervisor Rob Pelinka explaining the strikes he made on the commerce deadline.
“I believe once we made the Russell Westbrook commerce, we did it with the hope of bringing a championship, having a giant three,” Pelinka stated on Spectrum Sportsnet. “And clearly, we fell in need of that. However when one thing’s not working as a normal supervisor, it’s your job to repair it.
“Nobody has an ideal observe file,” he continued. “However once you really feel like a workforce isn’t performing the way in which it’s speculated to you gotta rearrange the elements. And that was type of what we did on the commerce deadline. Now that stated, Russell Westbrook was a consummate skilled and had nice video games as a Laker. And we loved having him as a Laker.”