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The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off the 2022-23 NBA season with an abysmal performance against the Golden State Warriors. The game was unofficially over before the end of the first quarter, and everyone and their uncle knew it. By halftime, most were already turning the game off or looking for something else on television. But if you didn’t stay for the halftime show, you missed Charles Barkley gave the feelings of most NBA fans on what the Lakers should do with Russell Westbrook. Check out the video below of what Barkley had to say.
Charles Barkley “I admire Russell Westbrook, they are taking his entire joy out of basketball and it pisses me off” pic.twitter.com/rRYRW8sYE6
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 19, 2022
Charles Barkley thinks the Lakers need to let go of Russell Westbrook. 😮 pic.twitter.com/nJb2CLd8iP
— theScore (@theScore) October 19, 2022
Barkley, known for his brutal honesty takes, which is a breath of fresh air in sports media, didn’t hold back on his feelings toward Westbrook. In the short clip above, Barkley shouted in frustration to the TNT crew, “I admire Russell Westbrook, they are taking his entire joy out of basketball and it pisses me off” It’s hard to argue the statements made by Sir Charles, as it did seem that the usual Westbrook energy wasn’t there tonight.
Russell Westbrook said he “absolutely” believes that coming off the bench against Sacramento contributed to him tweaking his hamstring in that game. “I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,” he said. “Honestly I didn’t even know what to do pregame.”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 19, 2022
One reason for the possible lack of energy from Westbrook could be the nagging hamstring energy the NBA All-Star is dealing with. According to Dave McMenamin, an NBA reporter for ESPN tweeted, “Russell Westbrook said he “absolutely” believes that coming off the bench against Sacramento contributed to him tweaking his hamstring in that game. “I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,” he said. “Honestly I didn’t even know what to do pregame.”
Whatever the case may be, the saga of the Los Angeles Lakers will continue to be under a microscope until the bowel movement hits the fan. The Lakers looked way more like a pretender than a contender on opening night. While there are 81 more of these so-called games this season, everyone knows this experiment is already on borrowed time. If fans and Barkley already see the writing on the wall, then it could be just a matter of time.
