Russell Westbrook Says His Family Doesn’t Want To Go To Laker Games Anymore Due To Name-Calling

Russell Westbrook’s first season with the Lakers has been about as rough as anyone could’ve imagined, as the former MVP has struggled to find his place within the hierarchy of L.A.’s new Big Three in the sporadic time they’ve had all together, much less when the roster has been in flux due to injuries and absences.

Westbrook has clashed with the coaching staff at times over rotations and being sat at the end of games when he’s had a poor night, and at the February trade deadline there was considerable buzz that the Lakers were trying to find a way to move him but ultimately weren’t willing to give up a first round pick to make that happen. What we are left with is an awkward situation that will now drag on into the summer, when L.A. will again have to make a decision on Westbrook’s future with the team, and in the meantime he will continue playing things out on a Lakers team that is mired in the bottom half of the West, scrapping for a play-in spot, far from the contender they planned to be.

The Lakers problems go far beyond Westbrook, but he is the starting point for most all criticism and his struggles make for an easy target. While critiques aren’t new for Westbrook, playing on the Lakers brings a new level of scrutiny and every game makes for new fodder for the A-block of national sports TV shows. On Tuesday, Nina Westbrook took to Twitter to call out Skip Bayless for being “childish” with his constant talk about Russell and called for him to apologize, before offering up more thoughts on what she and her family deal with from fans.

After the Lakers loss to the Spurs on Tuesday night, Westbrook addressed his wife’s tweets and opened up in a way he rarely does about how this season is affecting him and his family.

Harrison Faigen provided a full transcript of his statement, as he spoke on how it’s weighing on his family and why the name-calling at games has hit him so hard recently after seeing his son be so proud of his last name.

https://twitter.com/hmfaigen/status/1501063153492267010

It is incredibly sad that Westbrook feels he can’t bring his family to any games, even at home, without them dealing with harassment. One of the main reasons Westbrook wanted to get traded to Los Angeles was to be closer to his family, and for that to be soured the way it has is unfortunate.