Westbrook had a bad time with the Lakers. He didnt fit in to the offense, played well off the bench, and eventually left. He was the scapegoat the entire time.
His time with the Clippers has been a feel-good story. He took a minimum contract to go play for a team that appreciated him. He got to play his game and, while still turnover prone, had a positive impact on the team.
Now that Harden is there, he seems to be in the same situation he was with the Lakers. The offense is a mess and he is taking a lot of the blame for it. Now he is moving to the bench. If they continue to lose, is he going to get shipped to a bad team for size?
I hope not. Russ plays hard and has many skills that would be valuable to a team. His shot left him a long time ago and he is turnover prone, but he can also move the ball around and initiate the offense when the rest of the stars are focused on playing iso.
Does this feel like its becoming a Lakers situation?
It probably won’t, there are a lot of things that went wrong for him that Lakers stint.
Team Expectation - while he started off slow with the Wizards team as the 2nd half of the season started WB willed that Wizards team to the playoffs. The Lakers wanted that version of WB so Bron and AD can coast a bit in the Regular Season but WB never really found a footing. Regardless of the roster construction, there was also a significant drop of production from him (all-star to barely a starter).
Steep fall from prime - We all know how Humans love when the mighty falls. This is especially true to players like WB, in his prime he was a double edge sword. He can singlehandedly win you a game through grit and will alone but those same mentality also lost him a lot of games. That and alongside his “media personality” made him a polarizing player. Fans will either love his 120 effort, full gear all game or hate it because him playing 1 gear (full throttle) 90% of the time with barely a thought of changing gear made him go out of control. In his prime his playstyle will often yield positive results but his fall from grace gave the fans that don’t like his playstyle more reason to hate it.
Contract- WB supermax pretty much handcuffed the Lakers with their super ass roster. While it is not technically his fault the Lakers traded their whole depth to get him, it didn’t help that his production barely matched his contract.
Lebron and Lakers - This is similar to #1 but a lot more intense. Playing with a storied franchise especially with the Lakers, fans have really high expectations that borderline psychotic. Triple this intensity and scrutiny playing with an aging Lebron who is chasing that 1 last ring. WB falling out of his prime came at the worst possible timing.
Westbrook himself - it also didn’t help that WB still tried to play and acted like he’s still at his prime. We see this all the time, Melo doesn’t want to come off the bench, A.I. similar story. He was playing abysmal with that Lakers team. He took really bad shots late in the game thinking he’s still the main man like when he was with the OKC and Wizards. He still plays at 1 gear which is full speed despite the old-ass roster construction and his athleticism not being able to keep up anymore.
At the very least with the Clippers:
The team and everyone knows this is not an all-star, all-NBA/MVP WB anymore so the expectations for him aren’t really that high.
His production will not fall as much as he did from the Wizards. While he still has a lot of “haters”, a lot of people are also tired of the constant shitting to a man that is obviously on his way out of the league and are just rooting for the guy in his final few seasons.
He’s on a minimum contract!
While he is playing in LA with Kawhi and PG. There really isn’t that much expectation for this team to win championships especially compared to playing with Lebron and the Lakers. With the addition of Harden, the blame shift on to him warranted or not.
While he still takes a lot of ill-advised shots and is prone to turnovers. He is also putting a lot more effort everywhere else. He and the team also found a way to make his motor a lot more useful than with his stint with the Lakers.