Los Angeles Lakers

As the Los Angeles Lakers search for quick answers amid their 0-5 start to the season, Russell Westbrook is making himself open to ideas after Friday's 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaking to reporters, Westbrook said he's willing to "sacrifice whatever it is that needs to be sacrificed" after coming off the bench for the first time since his rookie season in 2008-09.

Even though Westbrook made it sound like he's been amendable to playing a different role for the Lakers, some of his previous comments at least suggested he would be unhappy changing anything.

While dealing with a back injury last season, Westbrook told reporters the pain was exacerbated by sitting on the bench for extended periods of time.

Russell Westbrook said he felt discomfort in his back against Milwaukee, and adds that part of the issue is that he's not accustomed "to sitting down for long stretches".

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 11, 2022

The Lakers used Westbrook off the bench for the final preseason game on Oct. 14 against the Sacramento Kings. He tweaked his hamstring after playing just five minutes and cited the change in role as a contributing factor to the injury:

"I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose. For me, obviously the way I play the game, it’s fast-paced, quick, stop-and-go. And I just happened to, when I subbed in, I felt something. Thought it was… didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t going to risk it in a preseason game. But definitely wasn’t something I was used to. Wasn’t warm enough. But that’s something I just wasn’t accustomed to."

Head coach Darvin Ham told reporters on Oct. 20 he had a "brief discussion" with Westbrook about the situation and said he would do what's best for the team when figuring out a role for the former MVP.

The hamstring injury did keep Westbrook out for Wednesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets. Friday snapped his streak of 1,007 consecutive regular-season starts dating back to Nov. 29, 2008. He came off the bench for the first 17 games of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder before moving into the starting five.

Westbrook did have his best game of the season in the Lakers' 111-102 loss to the T-Wolves. The 33-year-old had 18 points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes. He still struggled shooting the ball, making six of 17 field-goal attempts, and committed five turnovers.

The Lakers will return home on Sunday for another game against the Nuggets. They are one of two winless teams remaining in the NBA and are looking to avoid their first 0-6 start since 1957-58 when the franchise was in Minneapolis.

LeBron James praised Russell Westbrook's performance off the bench after the team's 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday at Target Center.

LeBron says Russ was "great" in his role off the bench tonight.

"It definitely catapulted us."

(via @SpectrumSN)

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) October 29, 2022

Westbrook had 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes as a reserve. He finished with a plus/minus of zero, whereas the starters all finished anywhere from minus-three to minus-23.

The nine-time All-Star entered the game averaging 10.3 points on 28.9 percent shooting over his first three matchups, so Friday marked an improvement. His outing clearly helped a second unit that kept the team in the game. Westbrook was replaced by Lonnie Walker IV with the game out of reach in the final seconds.

The 15-year veteran hadn't come off the bench since his rookie year in 2008-09, but the Lakers made a change after an 0-4 start. They rolled with a starting five of James, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, Damian Jones and Troy Brown Jr., who replaced an injured Anthony Davis (lower back tightness).

Ultimately, the Lakers fell to 0-5 thanks in part to Anthony Edwards' game-high 29 points. L.A. was within a possession early in the fourth before Minnesota pulled away.

L.A. will look for its first win on Sunday when it hosts the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.

The Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 0-5 on the season following a 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night at Target Center, and the Purple and Gold arguably look worse than they did in 2021-22, when they finished 11th in the Western Conference.

With Anthony Davis out of the lineup against the Timberwolves because of a back injury, it was up to LeBron James to carry the team. Although he finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, his efforts weren't enough, as the only other players to hit double digits in scoring were Russell Westbrook, Troy Brown Jr. and Austin Reaves.

Westbrook, L.A.'s $47.1 million man, finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 33 minutes off the bench. He made just six of 17 shots from the floor and one of four shots from deep.

Following yet another inefficient night from the point guard, NBA Twitter took aim at Westbrook:

https://twitter.com/AJontheguitar/status/1586181658226458625

No disrespect but why is Russell Westbrook continuously shooting 3’s??

— marlonhumphrey.eth (@marlon_humphrey) October 29, 2022

I have never, ever seen a basketball player display so little shame or regret for horrendous turnovers as Russell Westbrook does. Even coming off the bench, he led the Lakers with 5 sadly comical turnovers. Didn't seem to bother him a bit.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 29, 2022

Westbrook sure knows how to kill the vibe. What was that?

— Mark Gunnels (@MarkAGunnels) October 29, 2022

Westbrook came off the bench, missed his 1st 5, heated up, wound up with 10 pts, 5 boards in 13 minutes. But he got so full of himself again that he had the audacity to "rock the baby" on DRussell. Westbrick has been so pathetic he's disqualified from "rocking" on anybody.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 29, 2022

westbrook is really killing this team

— Joe. (@veteranho3) October 29, 2022

Lakers gotta be tanking on purpose because leaving Westbrook out there to end this game guarding Gobert ....is a choice.

— Waiting to Oxtail (@ThatDudeMCFLY) October 29, 2022

We constructed the roster so badly and that westbrook trade killed us. There’s no point of making a trade bc it won’t fix enough so yea blow it up pls https://t.co/XcQ8J4lC4n

— ︎­⬞ (@Jtalksball) October 29, 2022

Westbrook is a disaster. And that’s with all due respect to him.

— Ikpuho Ikpe (@ice_ikay) October 29, 2022

How does someone lose basketball skill this much when they were so good…? #NBATwitter #westbrook

— John Pfeiffer (@Money13G) October 29, 2022

The Lakers are one of two teams to still be without a win this season, joining the 0-4 Sacramento Kings.

At this point, trading Westbrook probably wouldn't help the team enough to vault it into title contention, especially considering L.A. likely won't get much in return to make packaging their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks in a deal worth it.

The Purple and Gold could very well ride the season out with the current group they have. If that happens, it's going to be a long season for fans.

Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James has now scored 20 or more points more times than anyone else in NBA history after his 28-point outing in a 111-102 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday evening.

Year 20: Most 20-point games in history 👑 pic.twitter.com/1PC12cxqG0

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 29, 2022

James was tied with Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone entering Friday but now sits alone after an early fourth-quarter layup gave him 20 points on the evening and 1,135 games of 20 points or more for his career.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan round out the top five.

Congrats to @KingJames of the @Lakers for moving up to FIRST on the All-Time 20-POINT GAMES list! pic.twitter.com/wQMbwbSYAr

— NBA (@NBA) October 29, 2022

James, who is playing in his 20th NBA season, is now averaging 25.8 points per game and 27.1 PPG for his career. His 37,191 points rank second all-time on the career points list behind only Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387.

The 0-4 Los Angeles Lakers are just one of three winless teams remaining in the NBA, leaving the franchise searching for answers ahead of a tough stretch of games.

The possibility of Russell Westbrook coming off the bench was brought up again Friday by Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, who said the guard appears willing to trust the first-year leader.

Darvin Ham said he again spoke with Russell Westbrook about coming off the bench ahead of this two-game trip and Westbrook again expressed a willingness to trust Ham

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) October 28, 2022

Westbrook has averaged just 10.3 points on 28.9 percent shooting (8.3 percent from three-point range) in three games (all starts). He is heading to the bench now, however, after ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Westbrook will be a reserve for the foreseeable future.

L.A. is playing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, and the reported starting five are LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV and Damian Jones, who practiced together at shootaround, per Wojnarowski. However, AD ended up sitting due to lower back tightness, and Troy Brown Jr. replaced him in the lineup.

Westbrook is a nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA player, two-time scoring champion and one-time NBA MVP. He has also averaged a triple-double on four occasions, most recently in 2020-21 with the Washington Wizards.

After that season, the Wizards traded the 15-year NBA veteran to the Lakers, and it has not gone well in purple and gold. Westbrook struggled last year, and those issues have only gotten worse this year (albeit in a three-game sample size).

Ultimately, L.A. has to find answers quickly with a tough schedule ahead. Their next six games are against teams with winning records, including Zion Williamson and the 3-1 New Orleans Pelicans and reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the 3-2 Denver Nuggets.

For now, the Lakers hope to get in the win column versus Minnesota, which will feature Westbrook on the bench for the first time since his rookie year (2008-09).

The Los Angeles Lakers will bring Russell Westbrook off the bench for Friday night's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team announced.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Westbrook, who's set to return from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss Wednesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets, will be dropped to the reserves in favor of a more traditional two-guard lineup for the "foreseeable future." Though Anthony Davis is not playing Friday, the Lakers practiced with this lineup and will likely start games with it when everyone is healthy:

• G: Patrick Beverley
• G: Lonnie Walker IV
• F: LeBron James
• F: Anthony Davis
• C: Damian Jones

The nine-time All-Star hasn't come off the bench during a regular-season game since his rookie year with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008-09.

Westbrook came off the bench during the Lakers' preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 14. After that contest, he blamed the role change for a hamstring injury he suffered that limited him to five minutes:

"Absolutely. I've been doing the same thing for 14 years straight. Honestly, I didn't even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose. For me, obviously the way I play the game, it's fast-paced, quick, stop-and-go. And I just happened to, when I subbed in, I felt something. Thought it was... didn't know what it was, but I wasn't going to risk it in a preseason game. But definitely wasn't something I was used to. Wasn't warm enough. But that's something I just wasn't accustomed to."

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham defended the team's medical staff in response:

Darvin Ham said he talked with Russell Westbrook after he said his bench role “absolutely” contributed to his injury. Ham defended the Lakers and their medical staff pic.twitter.com/EZGn72QH9Z

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) October 21, 2022

Any hope Westbrook could produce a bounce-back season following a forgettable first year in L.A. has started to fade. He's averaged 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 28.9 percent from the field, including a 1-of-12 mark on threes (8.3 percent).

While the 2016-17 NBA MVP didn't sound thrilled about coming off the bench in the preseason, it likely represents the Lakers' last chance to get value from him.

Playing a majority of his minutes when James and/or Davis are off the floor, allowing him to play a more ball-dominant style with the second unit, could provide a spark.

Otherwise, the chorus of questions about why the Lakers front office didn't do everything in its power to trade Westbrook over the summer will grow louder.

Any package, including a proposed deal with the Indiana Pacers that included guard Buddy Hield and center Myles Turner for Westbrook and a pair of first-round picks, could have provided the revitalized vibe L.A. sorely needed after missing the playoffs last season.

With the Lakers sitting at 0-4, Ham and Co. are already being forced to shuffle the rotation in a desperate attempt to find chemistry.

After missing Wednesday's game with a hamstring injury, Russell Westbrook is expected back for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Westbrook has been upgraded to probable for the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski added Westbrook could come off the bench, but that might be determined by whether or not Anthony Davis will be able to play as he recovers from a back injury:

Westbrook's status could be impacted by Anthony Davis' game-time decision on his back. If Davis is out, that could keep Westbrook in the starting lineup, sources said. https://t.co/O4sxRngIoA

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 28, 2022

Westbrook has been dealing with a hamstring injury since the Lakers' final preseason game against the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 14. He attributed the injury to being used off the bench and the change in his usual routine while speaking to reporters:

"I’ve been doing the same thing for 14 years straight. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to do pregame. Being honest, I was trying to figure out how to stay warm and loose. For me, obviously the way I play the game, it’s fast-paced, quick, stop-and-go. And I just happened to, when I subbed in, I felt something. Thought it was… didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t going to risk it in a preseason game. But definitely wasn’t something I was used to. Wasn’t warm enough. But that’s something I just wasn’t accustomed to."

Head coach Darvin Ham announced before the game Westbrook would come off the bench as the team experimented with lineup combinations before the start of the regular season.

Ham told reporters before tipoff that Westbrook was receptive to potentially being used as a sixth man.

When the regular season began, Westbrook occupied a spot in the Lakers' starting lineup for each of the first three games. His usage rate in those games was only 22.6 percent, which would be the lowest mark of his career.

The Lakers held Westbrook out of their Oct. 26 game against the Denver Nuggets. They lost 110-99, dropping their record to 0-4 for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Westbrook is only averaging 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game in three starts this season. He's shooting 28.9 percent from the field and has made just one of 12 attempts behind the arc.

Los Angeles will play the Timberwolves at the Target Center on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The team will be looking to avoid its first 0-5 start since 2014-15.

LeBron James is taking his NFL rooting talents to the Cleveland Browns.

James mentioned during an Instagram Live conversation with Maverick Carter that he has switched allegiances from the Dallas Cowboys to the Browns because of the Cowboys' policy in 2018 that players stand during the playing of the national anthem.

"Nah man, I had to sit out on the Cowboys, man. It's just a lot of things that was going on during the, you know, when guys were kneeling," James said during the live stream. "Guys were having freedom of speech and wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, 'If you do that around here, you will never play for this franchise again.' I just didn't think that was appropriate."

LeBron James on why he’s not @dallascowboys fan anymore:

“Nah man I had to sit put on the Cowboys man. It just a things that were going on when guys were kneeling... [The] organization were like if do that around here you won’t play for this franchise again.”#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/gYusCcs8KY

— Landon Buford (@LandonBuford) October 27, 2022

James added that he still likes a lot of the players on the team, including wideout CeeDee Lamb, running back Ezekiel Elliott, linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs, but he's now "all-in on the Browns."

In 2018, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—in response to players kneeling during the national anthem in protest against racial discrimination and police brutality after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick first began the practice in 2016—told reporters that the team's policy was "that you stand at the anthem, toe on the line."

"But in general, I will speak for one, and everybody knows where we stand, and we stand as a team," he added.

It is unclear if the Cowboys still have that policy, but defensive lineman Dontari Poe knelt during the anthem for the 2020 season after speaking about it with Jones.

James, 37, is from Akron, spent two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers during his NBA career and is an avid Ohio State fan, so the Browns were the natural option for his NFL fandom after moving away from the Cowboys.

Only three teams in the NBA have yet to win a game during the 2022-23 season. Perhaps surprisingly, the Los Angeles Lakers are one of them, having gotten off to an 0-4 start.

It may be too early to panic, but it's not too early for changes. So it may be time for the Lakers to mix things up.

What could that entail, exactly? Possibly a move for Russell Westbrook from the starting lineup to a bench role.

Westbrook isn't playing well early in the season, and he also hasn't been healthy. The 33-year-old point guard played in Los Angeles' first three games, but he missed Wednesday's road matchup against the Denver Nuggets because of left hamstring soreness.

The Lakers announced Thursday that Westbrook is questionable for Friday's road contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But if he does play, he might not be on the court for the opening tipoff.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Los Angeles moving Westbrook to the bench is "probably inevitable unless his performance changes." It may even happen for Friday's game, as ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reported that he'd heard Westbrook will "probably come off the bench" in Minnesota if he's active.

In Los Angeles' season-opening loss to the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 18, Westbrook didn't get off to a bad start. He scored 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting and hauled in 11 rebounds, providing some optimism that he could have a bounce-back year in his second season with the Lakers.

Since then, Westbrook has not played nearly as well. He had two points and shot 0-for-11 from the field (including 0-for-6 on three-pointers) in an Oct. 20 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, he had 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.

Could a move to the bench get Westbrook going a bit? It sure couldn't hurt to try, especially with Los Angeles needing some kind of spark to get past its slow start.

On Wednesday, Austin Reaves started in place of the injured Westbrook and had eight points while shooting 3-for-5 from the field. Reaves, a 24-year-old guard, may now stay in the starting lineup, as Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported that could be the corresponding move if Westbrook is shifted to a bench role.

Westbrook doesn't have an extensive history of coming off the bench. In fact, he's done it only 17 times in 1,024 games over his 15-year NBA career. And none of those came last season, when he made 78 starts for the Lakers.

But if Westbrook stays motivated, it could work out well for Los Angeles. It could rely on LeBron James and Anthony Davis early in the game, then bring in Westbrook to provide a spark. And it may guarantee that the Lakers have one or two of their top scorers on the floor at all times.

Of course, if this doesn't work out, a trade may eventually be coming. Westbrook was featured in trade rumors all offseason, but nothing materialized. If Los Angeles' struggles continue, that may change.

The Lakers are hoping to win now with James in the late stages of his career. And if Westbrook can't make enough positive contributions, they will likely need to deal him and hope they can get a package in return that will set them up well for the remainder of the season.

Not 24 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 0-4 on the season, LeBron James posted a kind-of-cryptic-but-not-totally Instagram caption Thursday that has reading-between-the-lines super sleuths buzzing.

"How long will you be taken for granted.....💭👑. Keep going kid."

LeBron James’ caption on Instagram today after last night’s loss dropped the Lakers to 0-4: “How long will you be taken for granted” pic.twitter.com/34GlAVGg9x

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 27, 2022

Perhaps this caption is a code for absolutely nothing. Maybe it's an innocuous nod to the picture of a 37-year-old soaring through the air, defying age and gravity and, by extension, science. This post might be his way of saying, "Nobody appreciates what I'm doing, at my age, at this level, nearly enough." And he'd be right. His longevity is acknowledged and cherished, but there is no fully comprehending or treasuring his lastingness.

Counterpoint: Yeah, no, that's not what this caption is doing. It can't be. The timing is too incidental to be coincidental. He's sending a message. He has to be.

The 2022-23 Lakers are spiraling, and LeBron, it seems, is fed up. And on the surface, he has every right to be.

Next season isn't a given for LeBron. He turns 38 on Dec. 30, giving him precious little time to play meaningful basketball, no matter how much of a generational anomaly his aging curve remains. But the Lakers are nowhere near playing meaningful basketball, let alone actually sniffing title contention.

Sure, four games doesn't have to be profoundly telltale. But Los Angeles' winless start is merely the sum of all its longstanding flaws actualized.

Russell Westbrook remains a putrid fit on offense. Trading for him while also bankrupting their wing depth during the 2021 offseason was an obviously bad decision then and it looks even worse now.

To what extent Russ deserves blame is questionable. He hasn't reinvented himself on offense as a high-volume ball-screener or spot-up threat. That's also not a surprise. He didn't undergo functional facelifts in Oklahoma City or Houston or Washington. Expecting him to dramatically change in Los Angeles, nearly 15 years into his career, is an irrational hope. It's a minor miracle he's played so hard on defense this season, if we're being honest.

None of which means he's above critique. Before suffering a hamstring injury that held him out of the Lakers' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, he was shooting 8.3 percent from deep and 35.8 percent on twos. Both marks would be career lows.

Between his gargantuan salary ($47.1 million), critically bad offensive play and overall fit, Westbrook has received a lion's share of the blame, as if his very presence is the lone barrier separating the Lakers from contention or, at the bare minimum, not sucking.

It's not.

The Lakers as a team are shooting a league-worst 22.7 percent from three and rank dead last in points scored per possession overall. That's not all Russ. Everyone shares in the bricklaying.

Anthony Davis has verged on dominant for stretches but followed up last year's sub-19-percent clip from three with...another sub-19-percent clip from three. Kendrick Nunn is a career 36.1 percent shooter from deep and currently nailing 23.5 percent of his treys while also having notched more fouls (seven) and turnovers (nine) than assists (six).

Patrick Beverley is a career 37.6 percent three-point sniper yet presently joins AD in the sub-19-percent club. LeBron himself is banging in just 25.7 percent of his triples, which would be a career low. Lonnie Walker IV is second on the Lakers in three-point attempts...which he's burying at a 17.4 percent clip.

Merely removing Westbrook from the equation solves little. He wasn't on the floor when the Lakers lost to the Nuggets, and their lineups in which LeBron and AD play without him on the season remain offensive clunkfests and net negatives.

Anyone bellowing obscenities at Russ from the stands or behind the protection of an avatar-less social media account is 1) overdue for some serious soul-searching and 2) misplacing most of the blame. The Lakers are not built by Westbrook or in the image of Westbrook. They were assembled by general manager Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office.

A majority of the outrage must be directed there, across so many different fronts. Pelinka and company's cardinal sin remains the same: They watched the Lakers win a title in 2020 by surrounding LeBron and AD with complementary shooting and defenders and then decided, not a full year later, to dismantle that nucleus in favor of what Westbrook might possibly, potentially be able to do when one of the two greatest basketball players of all time wasn't on the floor.

That is water-tight logic. So is letting Alex Caruso, one of their most important defenders, walk in free agency on a contract that was neither egregious nor outside their price range. With one of the GOAT candidates on their roster, still playing like a superstar, the Lakers acted like a small-market franchise.

Equally inexcusable: Doing so little in the aftermath of last year's implosion. Yes, the Lakers turned over their supporting cast, but only because most of that supporting cast is now out of the NBA. There's nothing noble about steering into decisions made for you, or for stockpiling largely ball-dominant guards.

Rob Pelinka looking at anyone 6'2" and under pic.twitter.com/vK7CkiArri

— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) October 24, 2022

Almost everyone's favorite pastime is now leaking Westbrook trades the Lakers could have made but didn't. That is damning. It suggests a complete lack of urgency in the face of an extremely urgent situation: LeBron's timeline. He should absolutely be pushing them to make a move, any move, just for the sake of increasing the meaning behind their largely purposeless basketball.

Indeed, the cost of doing so is prohibitive. Trading 2027 and 2029 first-rounders that (likely) post-date the LeBron era is dangerous.

It's one thing if those two picks ended up bagging them Kyrie Irving or another star. It's entirely different to punt on such a massive portion of your future in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or Josh Richardson and Jakob Poeltl or Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward.

The Lakers' current dilemma doesn't help matters. They are so deeply broken beyond the Westbrook fit they might be irreparable. Why mortgage crucial assets just to not contend and, potentially, eat into this summer's cap space?

Because. You. Have. LeBron. James.

Patience isn't a virtue, not in this case. The Lakers waiting for the trade market to expand doesn't ensure they'll have access to superior deals. Better options will incite more competition. And their best package, while steep for them, can be easily outstripped by teams capable of conveying a first-round pick sooner than five drafts from now.

Urgency is at once obligatory and essential. The Lakers haven't shown it. They've done everything but. They've made head coach Frank Vogel the scapegoat. They hired head coach Darvin Ham at least in part because he sold them on making it work with Russ, yet again implying he is the lone obstacle they must overcome.

Amid all these missteps over the past year-and-change, the Lakers extended Pelinka, for some reason, even though he's the architect of perhaps the NBA's most disjointed roster. That's worth another few dozen or so kind-of-cryptic-but-not-totally Instagram captions from LeBron itself. What's left of his window is being squandered, and Pelinka, along with all the other folks upstairs, including Jeanie Buss, should be thoroughly blamed for being so slow or unwilling to appropriately act.

And yet, while the Lakers are no question taking LeBron for granted, he is not beyond culpability. He reportedly pushed for the team to acquire Westbrook in the first place. It is Pelinka's job to override that input whenever necessary, but we can't pretend LeBron has been a voiceless bystander.

What's more, unless the Lakers promised to jettison Westbrook before the start of this season and then reneged at the last second, LeBron signed a two-year extension knowing this was the roster on which he'd be playing. That is eyes-wide-open behavior, and it must factor into the Blame Game currently being played.

Still, even with this in mind, the mess that is this season and team falls at the feet of Pelinka and the front office.

It doesn't matter if LeBron wanted Russ. And it doesn't matter if the Lakers are so far gone it actually doesn't make sense to ship out their draft picks. Trade the picks anyway. Get better now. Figure out how to reload the war chest later. AD and LeBron trades will be on the table in the coming years if the direction goes belly up again.

Pelinka and Co. pivoted away from a proven blueprint into aimless territory more than a year ago, and they've yet to even sort of pull themselves out of the resulting free fall. That is franchise malpractice.

And so, LeBron will soon turn 38, somehow still performing at a level high enough to contend for titles, on a team run by a front office that, frankly, doesn't seem to give a damn.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering Thursday's games. Salary information via Spotrac.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.