Conflict has already been planted? Meiji broke the news: Westbrook and Lao Zhan are strangers to each other, and both of them are dissatisfied with each other!

Recently, the news that Russell Westbrook signed with the Sacramento Kings and returned to the NBA also excited many fans. At the same time, one of Westbrook's actions also aroused heated discussion among fans. After a training session, some fans held Westbrook's jerseys from different periods, hoping to get autographs. But surprisingly, all of Westbrook's other jerseys were signed, except for the Lakers jerseys. In response to this matter, The Ringer's reporter Yaron Weitzman updated his social account and revealed the reasons behind it. It all stemmed from Westbrook being dissatisfied with his performance during the Lakers period, and pointed the finger at his former teammate LeBron James. The two have become strangers to each other. Even though they have been separated for more than 2 years, Westbrook still has not let go. Let us take a look at the contradiction between the two.

Westbrook was seriously dissatisfied and leaving was the last straw.

First of all, let’s talk about Westbrook. According to reporters, Westbrook is extremely dissatisfied with many of James’ actions. Among them, what annoyed Westbrook the most was that he failed to fully integrate into the team's system during his time with the Lakers. Coupled with the wave of injuries, the team's strength was greatly reduced, and it directly missed the playoffs in the 21-22 season.

In that season, Westbrook sacrificed a lot of ball rights and role positioning, and his average data per game reached 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists. It was indeed far from his performance during the MVP period, but just when he thought To once again help the Lakers hit the championship in the 22-23 season, the Lakers not only moved him to the bench, but James was also secretly pushing to send Westbrook away, hoping to send him to the Nets so that he could reunite with Kyrie Irving. Although the deal failed to take shape, Westbrook directly expressed his dissatisfaction after learning about it, but still failed to get the support of the team and became increasingly marginalized in the team.

At the same time, Westbrook also believes that the failure of his performance in the Lakers to meet expectations is also related to Lao Zhan's inconsistency. Although Lao Zhan has stated in front of the media many times that Lao Zhan supports Westbrook to be himself, but in fact he has not been able to do it. Not only that, Westbrook believes that Lao Zhan's character is too smooth and his false behavior makes him feel unable to support him. Of course, the biggest problem is the criticism of him by Lakers reporters and the Los Angeles media. The reporter behind the article had an unusual relationship with James in the past.

Some reporters even directly stated that Westbrook was a "vampire" in the Lakers locker room, and also incited fans outside the court to attack him and his family. This was unacceptable to Westbrook. In his Lakers career in the 22-23 season, even if he became a substitute, he could still contribute 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists. In the last game, he contributed an amazing performance of 27 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals. However, he was still traded by the team and sent away ruthlessly by the team, which became the last straw for Westbrook. Since then, he and Lao Zhan have drifted away.

has been criticized by the media many times, and Lao Zhan is also helpless.

While Westbrook expressed dissatisfaction, Lao James was also bitter. When Westbrook joined, Lao James desperately hoped to have a chemical reaction with Westbrook. After all, the historical three-point king, and his ability to hold the ball was not inferior to his own. After Westbrook joined, the team's goal was to win the championship.

But the problem is that Westbrook has been unable to integrate into the team, but has been criticized by the media. While Westbrook was questioned, Lao James was also criticized for no reason, believing that his existence restricted Westbrook's ability. But the problem is that the Lakers, who were in poor condition that year, were dragged forward by the 38-year-old. At this age, he averaged 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game, which is already very rare. Moreover, with the arrival of Luka Doncic, who is also the core player with the ball, there is no barrier between him and Lao Zhan. This is something that Lao Zhan cannot let go of, so he is also dissatisfied and he should not be criticized so much.

In addition, as a veteran of the team and the core of the Lakers' championship in 2020, Lao James should be the leader of the locker room, but Westbrook rarely obeys Lao James's calls, and even believes that the communication between Lao James and Will Smith is a hypocritical social interaction. This also led to conflicts in the team's locker room. The two became more and more alienated until they completely lost contact. Of course, Lao Zhan may not have done well in some places. After all, when Westbrook was bombarded by various media, he was not able to help Westbrook rescue him as a big brother and leader. This may be the source of Westbrook's disappointment.

But looking back at the short-term cooperation between the two, it is true that there are contradictions both on and off the court. Moreover, after Westbrook was traded that year, in exchange for D'Angelo Russell, who was not as capable as Westbrook, the team instead reached the Western Conference Finals. There is indeed a clear gap in this point. Therefore, if there was no cooperation between the two, they would still be good friends and talk about everything. They can only talk about a transaction, or a transaction that obviously should not be carried out, which will indeed bring about many unsolvable problems.