The Los Angeles Lakers’ Bench empties with Russell Westbrook Coming Off

Russell Westbrook of the Los Angeles Lakers was in the starting lineup for them for the first few games of the 2022-2023 NBA regular season. Westbrook was then out with an injury and came back into a bench role for head coach Darvin Ham.

This is going to benefit the Los Angeles Lakers and Russell Westbrook in the long run. NBA picks and parlays have Russell Westbrook on the sports betting app props every single night. What does this Russell Westbrook coming off the bench mean for the Los Angeles Lakers moving forward?

TWestbrook Can Run the Show Off the Bench

Russell Westbrook isn’t meant to be the third guy for the Los Angeles Lakers. It is much better to have him in a role where he is not on the floor at the same time as Lebron James and Anthony Davis. James is a player who is a ball-centric player, and Westbrook is also a ball-centric player.

He is not a very good shooter and needs to drive to the basket all the time. Russell Westbrook is one of those players who needs to be the star on the court in his own team with no one else. Westbrook can run the offense when Lebron is on the bench. Lesser minutes with Russell Westbrook can mean a more efficient Russell Westbrook.

They Can Win More Games

The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a slow start to the 2022-2023 regular season. There have been many questions as to how Russell Westbrook is going to fit with this basketball team. Rumors have floated around that they were going to trade him or send him home, but he has too much talent to try and not just make this fit.

If Westbrook can embrace this role of coming off the bench, it will benefit a lot of parties in the long run. This will mean that Russell Westbrook doesn’t have to get traded, and he can stay to please Lebron James and the organization.

The roster is not well built, and at best, they might be a play-in tournament team, despite the expectations being championship or bust with Lebron James around. Russell Westbrook has never won an NBA Championship in his NBA career as well.

Reduces Less Risk Of Injury

At this point in his career, Russell Westbrook has been known for being injured a ton. Reducing his minutes would reduce the risk of being injured. Playing 15-25 minutes would do that for him instead of being on the basketball court for 35-40 minutes.

In a press conference, Head Coach Darvin Ham got emotional and told Russell Westbrook to trust him and don’t worry about anything else. That’s the way it is going to have to be moving forward with his NBA career. Westbrook has been traded a lot, and he may not have many chances left in his NBA career.

Russell Westbrook is going to be a hall-of-fame player no matter what happens throughout the rest of his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers and his NBA career. Westbrook needs to stay healthy because the Los Angeles Lakers are going to need him whether people like it or not.

Don’t Have Much Depth

The Los Angeles Lakers have a top-heavy roster with their Big 3 and Patrick Beverley. They have one of the worst benches in the NBA, but having Russell Westbrook on it makes it instantly better. Kendrick Nunn and Austin Reaves usually come off the bench, but they don’t produce much.

This is the way they are going to be operating for the foreseeable future, and it is about winning basketball games at this point in Russell Westbrook’s career. We will see how this continues to play out for Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers as well. They also don’t have enough cap space to make any other trades at the current moment.