Westbrook came off the bench for the first time since 2008, and was injured in the Lakers' loss

The center pulled a muscle five minutes after coming in as a substitute: "This is not a demotion, but a reassignment," explained coach Ham, before grabbing a 47-point lead from Sacramento

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15/10/2022

Saturday, October 15, 2022, 08:49

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LeBron James is training for the start of the NBA season (from Twitter)

Since his rookie season in 2008, Russell Westbrook has not come on as a substitute in an NBA game, until tonight (between Friday and Saturday).

Los Angeles Lakers coach Darwin Hamm decided to conduct an experiment, with the idea of ​​reducing the shared minutes between the center and LeBron James and giving "Rass" the keys to the second five, but five minutes later the plans went down the drain - the 33-year-old star felt a muscle strain The hind thigh in his left leg, and abandoned the fight.

Without him, the Lakers, who failed miserably last season, were unconditionally defeated by the Sacramento Kings in the last preseason game, losing a painful 133:86.

Hamm informed after the game that Westbrook told him that he thought he would be fine, but that the center will probably undergo tests and the team will keep their fingers crossed that the injury will not disable him, since Dennis Schroeder is already injured and there is a fear that he will be absent for an extended period.

Before the loss, Hamm explained his decision regarding Westbrook: "This is not a demotion, but a reassignment. The door to the starting five is not closed to him, we need to look into it more deeply. We are not at the finish line, but in the first steps. He behaved like a professional and understood it Absolutely. He told me, 'Yes, Coach, whatever you need'. His trust in us and in what we are trying to test obliges me to take my hat off to him."

LeBron, who outwardly expresses himself positively, but behind the scenes it is not clear how satisfied he is that Westbrook is with him on the team, spoke about Russell's bench: "It was just something we wanted to check. It's not set in stone. Russ will be a significant part of our team, no matter What role will he get."

Not worried about defeat.

LeBron James (Photo: Reuters)

As far as the hard defeat in the game itself is concerned, the Lakers did not go out of their way because it is a preseason game.

What did worry the mother was the body language and reaction of some of his players to the development of the game: "No one will feel sorry for you, especially when you play for the Lakers," the coach clarified in a message to his players.

James referred more to the general picture: "I like how our team is structured, but we have to work. We can't afford not to improve on a daily basis. We have to understand how important every day is."

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