Podcast: Should the Lakers trade Russell Westbrook?

As is typically the case when a professional sports team loses five games in a row, finger-pointing about who is to blame for what is wrong with the Lakers has begun in earnest. And — given the complete lack of nuance social media has brought upon society — now, that means a single target typically deals with the lion share of the blame.

After all, it’s easy to scapegoat when things are going wrong, rather than to look at the big picture. Sometimes the chosen culprit is at fault, and a critical reason as to why struggles have occurred, but as is the case with most things, the root of the problem is often much more expansive.

For the Lakers, the fanbase’s latest subject of scrutiny is Russell Westbrook — who not only has been a lightning rod his entire career — but continues to be the basis of heated arguments among the team’s supporters after his play in the club’s recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

The Westbrook experience and adjustment period has not gone swimmingly, which was somewhat to be expected, but given the team’s recent string of losses, more conversations have begun to arise about if the union can still be salvaged. Which brings us to today’s episode.

On today’s edition of Talk-O-Tuesday, our hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla discuss Westbrook’s season up till now, where he has surprised, where he has disappointed, and whether or not the team can already come to firm conclusions about his long-term fit.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.