The Lakers Have To Trade Russell Westbrook ASAP

Fresh off an injury-plagued campaign, the Lakers came into this past offseason looking to make a splash. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka ended up pulling the trigger on a trade for Wizards guard Russell Westbrook, thanks to LeBron James' input, and now that's looking like a mistake.

Westbrook has been DISMAL all year long and Christmas day's 122-115 loss to the Durant/Irving-less Nets felt like the final straw.

Twitter's a mess.

The former league MVP finished the night with a triple-double (13 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists), however it was perhaps the least impactful stat line, ever. This is all while Anthony Davis is out at least a month with a knee sprain, so Russ has an increased role in the offense. Despite that freedom, he's done absolutely nothing along side LeBron James. And LeBron has somehow, in year-19, been phenomenal when he plays.

James dropped 39 points in Saturday night's loss and was essentially a one-man wrecking crew out there. No reason for that to be happening when two other players are paid north of $30 million a year to provide support to the team's best player. Anthony Davis hasn't been available due to injury, and Westbrook stinks up the court like a Lizzo fart at Staples Center way too often.

The video above shows what the Lakers are getting from Russell Westbrook. Poor decision making from untimely jumps that lead to sketchy pass outs to unsuspecting teammates, to airballs from inside the three-point arc. For a professional basketball player, these type of errors shouldn't happen with any regularity, and if they are, we're looking at a player that needs to find a new team -- specifically a squad not looking to win an NBA championship anytime soon.

And as I previously stated, LeBron James "okay'd" this deal for Westbrook over shooters like Buddy Hield from Sacramento. Now the Lakers are likely stuck until Westbrook's contract expires after the 2022 season. Russell Westbrook's currently averaging 19.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 8.5 assists this season, but none of that matters. Basketball fans are finally grasping what I've tweeted the past decade: Russell Westbrook is logging empty stats that's led the Lakers to a 16-18 record despite LeBron's strong play in December. Strong play that's evident by watching the game rather than obsessing over numbers on the post-game box score like so many casuals have grown accustomed to doing.

It's hard to ever feel sorry for LeBron and we likely won't, however watching Westbrook play for the Lakers is a disgrace to Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, West, and so many others. Just make it stop, please.