The first cracks in the Los Angeles Lakers roster seem to have started appearing already after Russell Westbrook ignored Patrick Beverley’s call for a defensive huddle.
The biggest talking point of the summer for the Los Angeles Lakers was Patrick Beverley on the roster. The former Minnesota Timberwolves star’s arrival into a locker room comprising long-term rival Russell Westbrook – with whom Beverley’s rivalry dates back nearly a decade – was the subject of discussion over whether the locker room would hold up.
Westbrook and Beverley share plenty of history, as the pair have been involved in several altercations both on and off the court for nearly a decade. Hence, it was no surprise why the decision to bring Beverley into the same locker room as Russ was such a point of discussion–but the pair reportedly spoke it out and got on well.
Beverley has spoken out on Russ multiple times in the off season and even went to the extent of calling Russ his “best friend”, but as many people predicted – that disposition does not seem to last for a long time. It seems like the first cracks in the locker room have already showed after a certain clip from a Lakers pre-season game went viral on social media.
The viral clip seemed to imply at the early cracks forming in the Lakers’ roster.
In the clip that has since gone viral on social media, Patrick Beverley asked for his teammates to join in a defensive huddle as the Lakers were playing the Minnesota Timberwolves in preseason. Even though the others joined the huddle at Beverley’s orders, Westbrook did not want to join in – and it was only after multiple calls that Russ followed his former rival’s orders.
The clip went viral as fans speculated if the inevitable had already begun to happen, and if their rivalry has now begun a new chapter at the cost of the Lakers’ locker room.