Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Richard Jefferson: Westbrook sending message with injury complaint

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 10/19/22

Richard Jefferson thinks he can see right through Russell Westbrook’s ruse.

The Los Angeles Lakers guard Westbrook made a noteworthy comment after a blowout defeat to the Golden State Warriors in Tuesday’s season opener. Westbrook started in Tuesday’s game but was surprisingly brought off the bench for Friday’s preseason finale against Sacramento. The former MVP played just five minutes before exiting with a hamstring injury.

After the Golden State game, Westbrook said that he “absolutely” believed his injury was a result of coming off the bench, thus throwing him off his usual pregame rhythm.

Westbrook believes coming off the bench could have caused the hamstring strain.

"Absolutely, I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to do pregame."

(Via @kylegoon) pic.twitter.com/LZ4o0bY8GO

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 19, 2022

Westbrook’s comments led to an interesting theory from the former NBA forward Jefferson (now a host for ESPN). On Wednesday’s episode of “NBA Today,” Jefferson said he thinks Westbrook was trying to send a message to the Lakers on what will happen if they try to bring him off the bench during the season.

"He was sending a message that 'if you guys try and do this… this is what's gonna go down.'"

Richard Jefferson on Russell Westbrook attributing his hamstring tweak to him coming off the benchpic.twitter.com/fsyHJT4ebq

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 19, 2022

Jefferson is probably onto something here. Westbrook’s hamstring was well enough for him to play 31 minutes and put up 19 points against the Warriors just four days later. Meanwhile last year, Westbrook also claimed that he suffered a different injury when then-coach Frank Vogel benched him.

The former MVP Westbrook is prideful player who has started in 1,005 of 1,022 career games (with all 17 bench appearances coming during his 2008-09 rookie year in Oklahoma City). Things may indeed get ugly if new Lakers coach Darvin Ham has any in-season benchings planned for Westbrook.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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