NBA Hoops

With no middle ground to evaluate Russell Westbrook, the Lakers look destined for mediocrity … again

Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman during the third quarter of the season opener at Chase Center in San Francisco on Oct. 18, 2022. (Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports)

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s never too early for panic in Lakerland, or at least concern of the worst fears coming true.

Is it merely one game or the same old Halloween horror film repeating itself, with the same villain leading to destruction?

The roster deficiencies and a Hall of Fame piece that doesn’t quite fit with the rest was on display in the Lakers123-109 opening-night loss to the Golden State Warriors, and no one was in the mood to deflect what seemed clear to naked eyes.

Russell Westbrook returned to the starting lineup after a one-game preseason experiment — an experiment that saw him limping to the locker room with a hamstring injury last Friday that he subsequently blamed on coming off the bench after a career of being in the first five.

He was prompted by a query so he wasn’t crying wolf on his own, but he didn’t mind discussing his feelings on a role he hasn’t played since Nov. 28, 2008, when he came off the bench for the final time as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Absolutely. I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight,” Westbrook said. “Honestly, I didn’t know what to do pregame, I was trying to stay warm and loose.

“I felt something, didn’t know what it was. Wasn’t gonna risk it in a preseason game. But definitely wasn’t something I was used to. Wasn’t warm enough. It was something I wasn’t accustomed to.”

He’s an easy target, and some would say easy to defend given the myriad issues the Lakers have that don’t include him. There’s hardly a middle ground with him — which makes him hard to evaluate. But employing a team with talents like LeBron James and Anthony Davis leads to Champagne expectations, therefore placing the focus on a Westbrook-like figure instead of looking at the roster to say there isn’t much variance between a really good Lakers season and an abject disaster.

Charles Barkley throwing Westbrook a life raft, saying the Lakers are essentially sucking the life from him, isn’t a foreign concept. But Westbrook only danced around it, choosing not to make an uncomfortable situation unbearable.

It’s hard to discern the ills because everything is so loud. Westbrook played generally well, but the turnovers were ugly and memorable — same for everyone else wearing purple, it should be said.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman during the third quarter of the season opener at…

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