All signs point to Frank Vogel eventually being fired by the Lakers. There are legitimate gripes about him as a coach, such as his rotation decisions (like featuring Avery Bradley over Austin Reaves) and his game-planning (using Carmelo Anthony, not LeBron James, as a defender recently against Domantas Sabonis).

David Fizdale, the next coach down on the Lakers’ bench, could inject some energy into this group in an interim role, but a new coach won’t change the fact that Rob Pelinka built a roster with holes that were caused by depleting the depth chart to get Russell Westbrook.

Sloppy decisions, inefficient shooting, and aloof defense have been occasional themes throughout Westbrook’s career, but the good usually outweighed the bad. To make the most of playing with LeBron James, Westbrook needs to LeBron James, Westbrook needs to realize he’s not Kyrie Irving or Dwyane Wade and be more like Chris Bosh and Kevin Love by making sacrifices, trying to fit in, and tweaking his game.

“The challenge is how to be the version of myself for this team, that’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Westbrook told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday morning. “I want to get better as the season goes on, and I’ve got to take responsibility for the things I’m doing and how I’m making those around me better. We have a legitimate chance to be able to win it all, and to do that, I’ll have to be better—and I know that I will be.”

Hours after ESPN published Woj’s story on Westbrook, Marc Stein reported on his Substack that the Rockets would be open to trading John Wall to the Lakers for Westbrook and their 2027 first-round pick. An all-time great NFL divisional weekend helped overshadow Stein’s report, but it’s noteworthy that there’s one team interested in acquiring Russ if the Lakers decide to hit the emergency evacuation button. Wall and Westbrook were swapped for each other last season. Another Wall-for-Westbrook trade would be objectively hilarious, but it would also be an extreme idea for Los Angeles considering that Wall has barely played in two years.

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https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/1/24/22898436/lakers-russell-westbrook-rumors-frank-vogel-all-star