It only took new Lakers head coach Darvin Ham four games to bring Russell Westbrook off the bench — a move the former coach hesitated with and frankly never did last season. Ham, who mentioned that Friday’s game versus the Sacramento Kings was going to be a dry run of what to expect this season, assigned Patrick Beverley to take over Westbrook’s starting job.
When Ham was asked moments before Friday’s game tipoff about his decision to not start Westbrook, he said that both he and Westbrook consensually agreed on the idea.