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威少與湖人的結局
https://i.imgur.com/PtcgV4o.jpg

作者：Sam Amick  Jovan Buha

After a tumultuous 18 months, the Lakers and Russell Westbrook have finally move
d on.

在經歷了動蕩的18個月之後，湖人隊和威少終於開始各自前行

Two sources described the situation as “toxic”. And while Lakers owner Jeanie
Buss opposed the idea of   waiving Westbrook, sources say the coaching staff was
 confident it might be necessary if no trades were made.

兩名知情人表示，在威少被交易前，湖人的情況已經有毒。雖然湖人老闆娘珍妮不願意裁掉
威少，但是知情人稱，湖人教練組相信，如果無法交易威少，那麼裁掉或許是必要的。

The Lakers’ coaches have been frustrated with Westbrook’s recent behavior, and
 he’s known to be upset about being mentioned publicly in trade discussions. Bo
th sides were ready to move on from an imperfect partnership.

湖人教練組對於威少近期的行為感到失望，而威少對於自己捲入交易流言也感到不安，雙方
都準備好結束這段並不完美的合作關係。

In the second quarter of Tuesday’s 133-130 loss to the Thunder, Westbrook and a
ssistant coach Phil Handy got into a verbal altercation on the sideline — the s
econd in about a month — that ultimately earned the Lakers a delay of game warn
ing. That disrupted the bench and led to a halftime altercation between Westbroo
k and head coach Darvin Ham, as first reported by ESPN on Wednesday.

在輸給雷霆的第二節比賽中，威少和助理教練漢迪在場邊發生了口角，這是大約一個月內的
第二次，如ESPN報導的那樣，這擾亂了替補席，然後中場休息時還跟總教練哈姆發生爭吵。

But when Ham turned the spotlight on Westbrook and his specific individual strug
gles, sources say the future Hall of Famer took it personally.



While James often says running the roster now is the job of vice president of ba

sketball operations Rob Pelinka, the proverbial separation of church and state d
idn’t exist when that deal went down. From both ends of that spectrum — Westbr
ook maneuvering with Washington, James and Davis making an impact on the Lakers
— it was a superstar-driven deal if ever there was one.



As the games resumed, Ham followed through on his promise to hold Westbrook acco
untable. She developed a strong relationship with him upon arrival, then relied
on personal capital in all of their difficult conversations. He convinced Westbr
ook to come off the bench in mid-October, and that exploratory move went well en
ough over the next two months that the Lakers no longer focused on trading Westb
rook because he wasn’t seen as the main cause of their problems.



But that would eventually change. The familiar discomfort of this Westbrook-Lake
rs dynamic returned when Davis’ extended absence brought their court woes back
to the fore. James’ social media posts of late made the off-court element with
Westbrook uncomfortable again.



When James began to publicly announce that he wanted to reunite with Irving, it
became clear that Westbrook’s feelings were not the most important thing for th
e franchise center. Everyone knew that trading Irving to the Nets would have end
ed Westbrook’s tenure with the Lakers, and he likely went to a third team becau
se the Nets didn’t want him, league sources say.



But James sent it strikingly timed tweet on Friday, sharing wide-eyed emojis and
 a crown of champions not long after Irving asked to be traded from Brooklyn. Th
e next day, when James was asked if Irving would help the Lakers, he made his st
ance more transparent, saying he would “duh” question. After Irving was traded
 to Dallas on Sunday, he told ESPN’s Michael Wilbon that he is “disappointed”
 The Lakers did not land their former teammate.



Among the Lakers’ walls, there was some sympathy for the position Westbrook was
 put in as a result of James’ messaging, and confusion as to why James chose to
 use his voice in such a way.

在湖人隊內部，有人對威少因為詹姆斯的言論所導致的處境表示同情，也有人對詹姆斯為什
麼選擇用那種方式來發表言論感到困惑。

https://pse.is/4r8tr9


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※ 作者: mingonly 2023-02-10 20:27:28
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