It’s no secret that Russell Westbrook’s tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers has been tumultuous.
Westbrook has almost never been a good fit for the Lakers. After the Lakers included him in trade packages for Kyrie Irving, he allegedly had a spat with his head coach. Westbrook and Darvin Ham got into it on Tuesday night according to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
The incident took place during halftime their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center. LeBron James secured the all-time scoring record of 38,888 points in the game and was the topic of discussion. That is until this incident occurred.
“Lakers G Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the halftime locker room on Tuesday vs. OKC.” Wojnarowski tweeted. “Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of game late in second quarter.”
ESPN Sources: Lakers G Russell Westbrook and coach Darvin Ham had a brief, heated verbal exchange in the halftime locker room on Tuesday vs. OKC. Ham expressed frustration with how Westbrook lingered on the playing floor after getting subbed out of game late in second quarter.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2023
“Voices were raised in locker room, but discussion turned back to trying to win game vs. Thunder, sources said,” Wojnarowski later tweeted.” Ham closed the game with Westbrook, who had a season-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. Ham and Westbrook dapped up prior to leaving arena later in night.”
Voices were raised in locker room, but discussion turned back to trying to win game vs. Thunder, sources said. Ham closed game with Westbrook, who had a season-high 14 points in fourth quarter. Ham and Westbrook dapped up prior to leaving arena later in night. https://t.co/8cch24Sgbq
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2023
The NBA world had plenty to say following the news of Westbrook-Ham’s spat surfacing on Twitter. It may have not been the Westbrook news that some of those in the NBA world was looking for ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.
This was the play that got Darvin Ham and Russell Westbrook screaming at each other in the locker room pic.twitter.com/jIedKUJW7k
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod
(@big_business_) February 8, 2023
starting a tweet with “russell westbrook” the day before the trade deadline that isn’t about a trade is a declaration of war https://t.co/YzembEHAxi
— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) February 8, 2023
I really feel bad for Russell Westbrook.
The way he had been treated in Los Angeles is just sad. https://t.co/nbWu4vycdm
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) February 8, 2023
This is not the Westbrook tweet we want.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) February 8, 2023
Russ and Darvin Ham pic.twitter.com/tikW9w59js
— BetMGM
(@BetMGM) February 8, 2023