LOS ANGELES — It's been almost three years since Russell Westbrook's last game in an Oklahoma City Thunder uniform — one of the last times it felt like he was among the very best players in the NBA.
The 33-year-old point guard's struggles this season with the Los Angeles Lakers have amplified the decline his play has seen since leaving OKC in 2019.
Through 59 games with the Lakers, Westbrook is averaging 18.2 points (lowest since 2009-10), 7.7 rebounds (lowest since 2014-15) and 7.3 assists.
He didn't make the All-Star game this season for the second-straight year after making it nine of the last 10 seasons.
The Lakers (27-33) are sitting in ninth place in the Western Conference following Sunday night's loss at home to the New Orleans Pelicans (25-36).
The loss could be heard around the Crypto.com Arena as boos reigned down on the city's beloved Lakers who are hanging on to a spot in the league's play-in tournament.
“Teams are coming in and playing harder. I believe that’s their scouting report — just play harder than them and see what happens. And it’s working,” said Westbrook, who had 16 points and seven turnovers. “We have to have the determination that’s not going to happen on our home floor or it is going to continue to happen to us.”
The decline in play from the team has fallen as it always has on fellow star LeBron James, but Westbrook's arrival this past offseason has led to the conclusion that he's a significant part of the problem.
His stops in both Houston and Washington after leaving the Thunder pointed to the issues he's had in all of his stops — fit.
At his best, Westbrook rated 14.1 for Win Shares (an estimate of the number of wins contributed to by a player) in the 2015-16 season. So far with the Lakers, he's sitting at 1.3 Win Shares — a career-low and the worst among the team's regular starters.
Westbrook's best seasons clearly came in Oklahoma City as the franchise player that the team built itself around following the departure of Kevin Durant.
Scoring titles in 2015 and 2017, league MVP in 2017, and three-straight seasons averaging a triple-double from 2016 to 2019 pushed Westbrook into the NBA's history books and gave him a place among the league's 75 best players of all time.
Though there's no doubt he'll be in the Hall of Fame, his quick decline in play and public opinion is further complicating a legacy already haunted by what could have been in Oklahoma City should he have been a more efficient fit alongside Durant and James Harden.
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