“I don’t care what Russ says to apologise.… I think it will be the last truly great season of LeBron James” - Jason Timpf says the whole Russell Westbrook experiment has been toxic and the Lakers should let him go
Calls for Russell Westbrook to be let go by the LA Lakers continue to be made on a daily occasion. The same call has been made by Lakers Nation and top NBA analysts. It has now also been made by former NCAA player and Lakers contributor on "Hoops Tonight," Jason Timpf.
Timpf took to his podcast on Volume to react to the Lakers' reluctance to trade the guard away from the franchise. He referred to Westbrook's season with the Lakers as toxic. He claimed it was toxic for the fans, the coach and also the front office, stating:
"The thing with Russ this year was toxic. It was toxic with the fans. It was toxic with the coach. It was toxic with the weird, you know, the weird posturing of clutch sports in the Lakers front office."
Timpf stated that it was also toxic with "Mr. Triple-Double" himself, with the way he conducted himself with the press. Westbrook refused to accept the blame for a poor game the entire season.
Timpf declared that, no matter what Westbrook says to apologize, he does not care. He strongly believes the 33-year-old should be let go, stating:
"It was toxic with Russ himself in the way that he would go to the press and refuse to accept blame for anything that he did during the entire season. The whole thing was toxic. So I don't care what Russ says to apologize."
Jason Timpf believes retaining Russell Westbrook for the 2022-23 NBA season will ruin LeBron James' 20th season in the league
The 2021-22 NBA season has been described in some quarters as the worst season of LeBron James' career. While that is debatable, James will remain with the Lakers for the upcoming season and many fear the same or a worse outcome if changes are not made.
Timpf believes that regardless of whatever Terry Stotts thinks he can do with Russell Westbrook, his retainment on the roster spells doom. He was of the opinion that, if the three-time assist leader remains with the team, the decision could ruin James' 20th season in the NBA. He said:
"I don't care what Terry Stotts thinks he can do with Russ. If you bring him back into training camp, you are willingly signing up for a toxic environment and thus punting the season, namely the 20th season of LeBron James.
"I think it will be the last truly great season of LeBron James Carter potentially. So it's a big time punt your signing off."
I continue to be completely stunned that the idea of retaining Westbrook is even being *considered* by the Lakers front office.
The Lakers fired a cannon into the deck of their own ship and now they are debating whether or not they should stay on the ship. Inconceivable. twitter.com/markg_medina/s…
Timpf insisted that Russell Westbrook's likeliness to make catastrophic errors is one more reason why he has to go. He strongly feels that he is not a Lakers quality player and, as such, the franchise should part ways with the 2017 MVP.