Lakers Rumors: Frank Vogel Feeling Pressure to Move Russell Westbrook to Bench

As Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to struggle, head coach Frank Vogel is searching for answers in an attempt to salvage this season.

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there is “an increasing push among many” in the Lakers organization to move Westbrook out of the starting lineup.

Wojnarowski noted that Vogel has “so far” resisted bringing Westbrook off the bench.

According to Wojnarowski, there was a tense moment between Vogel and Westbrook during a Friday film session for the team stemming in part from differing visions between the former NBA MVP and Lakers coaching staff over how to best utilize him.

There have been multiple games this season in which Westbrook was benched for the fourth quarter because of his struggles.

After sitting out a Feb. 9 game against the Portland Trail Blazers with back tightness, Westbrook made some not-so-thinly veiled comments about sitting for long periods of time during games.

“I’m not accustomed to sitting down for long stretches and getting up and then moving quickly,” he told reporters Feb. 11. “It kind of stiffened up a little bit, and then kind of moving into the next night, I woke up, same thing, just kind of real (stiff).”

B/R’s Jake Fischer reported earlier this week that the Lakers and Westbrook have a “mutual interest” in finding the nine-time All-Star a new home during the offseason.

Westbrook was acquired in an August trade with the Washington Wizards to ease some of the burden on LeBron James during the 2021-22 campaign. He has a $47.1 million player option for next season, per Spotrac.

Instead, he has struggled to fit in with the roster, and his performance has been a disappointment. The 33-year-old is on pace to average his fewest points since the 2009-10 season, fewest rebounds since 2014-15 and fewest assists since 2019-20.

Westbrook’s 50 percent true shooting percentage ranks 429th out of 566 qualified players in the association, per NBA.com.

As Vogel tries to figure out a solution for Westbrook, he is also trying to keep the Lakers in the mix for a spot in the play-in tournament. They have lost four straight and 11 of 14 games since Jan. 27.

Los Angeles (27-35) enters Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors ranked ninth in the Western Conference standings.