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Why this Los Angeles Lakers season was doomed from their first team outing in October

THE NIGHT OF Oct. 11, 2021, was no ordinary Monday in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants had played Game 3 of the National League Divisional Series at Dodger Stadium, while across town in Westwood, the NBA's newest superteam was assembling for a private screening of Russell Westbrook's autobiographical documentary on Showtime, "Passion Play."

Initially, no party had been planned because of local COVID-19 restrictions. But this documentary was important to Westbrook, so he paid for and arranged an IPIC theater, catering and COVID testing for all attendees, so his friends, family and new Los Angeles Lakers teammates could safely attend.