Los Angeles Lakers’ Russell Westbrook Experiment Won’t Have Happy Ending

The Los Angeles Lakers’ season isn’t officially over, but this point is clear — the Russell Westbrook era will not have a positive ending.

As if the Lakers’ record wasn’t a bad enough indication of their 2021-22 season, it reached an apex during the Lakers’ most recent loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. At the end of the Lakers’ 111-104 loss, Westbrook was benched for the final three minutes, 52 seconds of a close game.

“Playing the guys that I thought were gonna win the game,” Vogel said following Westbrook’s benching.

To Westbrook’s credit, the mega star took the benching in stride, merely saying that he was “surprised” by the decision, via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“Surprised, yes,” said Westbrook. “I was disappointed I didn’t go back in, but I’m more disappointed that we lost the damn game. “I want to be able to be on the floor to help my teammates and be able to help our team win in games like that — but that was a decision that was made.”

While Westbrook’s careful response definitely helps as far as damage control is concerned, it’s become painfully obvious there’s no salvaging this season for the Lakers.

Westbrook has tried to fit in. He has taken less shots than he has in years. He’s attempted to play the role of point guard. He has said all of the right things. Rightfully so, his teammates support him and have defended him.

But this is just simply a bad fit.

As more detractors gain ammunition for why the Westbrook experiment is a failure in Los Angeles, something else is also obvious — there isn’t a single trade that is going to save this season.

The Lakers have one appealing asset and that’s 21-year-old shooting guard Talen Horton-Tucker. Outside of Tucker and Kendrick Nunn’s $5 million contract Los Angeles simply does not have the players or the contracts needed to make a major move by the trade deadline on Feb. 10.

Is Tucker’s potential combined with Nunn’s contract enough to swing a trade for a coveted piece such as Myles Turner or Jerami Grant?

The short answer is, probably not.

As mentioned before, Westbrook is saying all of the right things. You can’t deny that the 33-year-old is making the ultimate sacrifice on the court playing third fiddle to LeBron James and Anthony Davis in an effort to win a championship.

He reinforced that thought process during an interview with ESPN prior to the Lakers’ matchup versus the Orlando Magic on Friday night.

“Ultimately, you have to be OK when s—- doesn’t go well, and I’m OK,” Westbrook said. “I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me here, and I’ll continue to do so and ride this out as long as we can toward our ultimate goal — and that’s to win a championship.

“We obviously haven’t been fully healthy, but I’m committed to making this thing work. The communication is there with everybody in the organization to make this thing work, to make this team we all want it to be in the future.”

Outside of the ongoing saga of Westbrook’s fit with the Lakers, Vogel has come under fire as of late. While he was given the “green light” to bench Westbrook during the Pacers game, a report cited that Vogel is coaching on a “game-t0-game” basis following the Lakers’ season-worst 37-point loss to the Denver Nuggets last Saturday night.

We can sit here and point many fingers for the Lakers’ struggles this season. Westbrook and Vogel just so happen to be the easiest targets due to Westbrook’s history and the fact that Vogel is the head coach.

But the reality is, this was a bad fit from the start. Westbrook’s on-court fit was a major problem from the very beginning, but his enormous salary ($44.2 million this season, player option worth $47 million next season) — which prevents him from being moved — is an even bigger issue.

The Lakers won’t be able to move Westbrook; although they apparently tried earlier in the season.

The Lakers may fire Vogel. But it won’t make any sort of difference to how the season will end.

The 2021-22 Lakers are done. Management will try to salvage the season by either firing Vogel or making a “major” deal at the trade deadline. But there’s just too many ill-fitting parts.

The franchise dug themselves into this mess by choosing to acquire a mega star rather than properly filling the roster with proper role players around James and Davis.

And there’s no way of digging out of it now.