Russell Westbrook has never been the third option on a team, and if he has, it hasn’t been since he was drafted fourth overall in 2008. Yes, he was teammates with Kevin Durant and James Harden, but Harden wasn’t the star then that he is now. For all of Westbrook’s career, he’s been (at-lowest) the 1B to someone’s 1A.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Westbrook has struggled to start his Lakers career. In his regular-season debut for Los Angeles on Tuesday, Westbrook scored 8 points on a lowly 4-13 shooting from the field and he posted the worst plus-minus on the team at -23.