The future of Russell Westbrook as a Laker has taken an unexpected turn. Recent reports have revealed rumors that the Lakers are willing to keep the superstar point guard for the 2022-23 season.

This news comes in the wake of the Lakers announcing Bucks’ assistant Darvin Ham as the new head coach. The Lakers had been interviewing potential candidates for the head coaching position for quite some time.

The Westbrook situation played an important part in the interviews. In fact, one of the shortlisted candidates, Terry Stotts, expressed his desire to turn Westbrook into a more effective player on both ends of the floor.

Russell Westbrook’s future with the Lakers

The general consensus among fans and the media was that the Lakers would trade Westbrook in the offseason after his terrible performance this season. He averaged only 18.3 points, 7.1 assists, and 7.5 rebounds this season, which is underwhelming for an MVP-caliber player.

Moreover, Westbrook failed to gel with the other players on the team. He struggled to work in tandem with LeBron James and provide him the necessary support he needed.

As a result, the Lakers ended their season 11th in the Western Conference with a record of 33-49. They even failed to qualify for the play-in tournament.

Westbrook has a player option left of 47.1 million dollars for the next season. He can opt out of it to become an unrestricted free agent. But the chances of that happening are low.

It wouldn’t be wise for the Lakers to take another chance on Westbrook, ruining their cap flexibility. But reports say that the Lakers are reluctant to give up future first-round draft picks to trade the 2017 MVP.

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Therefore, they might take one more chance with him. Hopefully, a new coach could transform Westbrook into his lethal former self.

Russell Westbrook and LeBron James

Both Russell Westbrook and LeBron James are ball-dominant floor generals. The Lakers generally rely on James for dimes. But Westbrook has had problems this year deferring to the best passer in the NBA.

He finds it difficult to operate when the ball is not in his hands. Therefore, he couldn’t serve as LeBron’s reliable second option this season.

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Coach Ham has a lot to figure out in order to make the teamwork. With so many potential Hall-of-Famers and superstars on the roster, he will be under extreme pressure to deliver from the very first day in office.