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The awkward dynamic between LeBron James and Russell Westbrook

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook stole the show at the Lakers Summer League game on Friday from the sidelines and exposed the awkward dynamic between them this summer.

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2022 NBA Summer League - Phoenix Suns v Los Angeles Lakers Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In any scenario, LeBron James sitting courtside would steal the show at a Summer League game, but what transpired on Friday was particularly noteworthy.

As a parade of people came to dap up LeBron courtside, teammate Russell Westbrook was not among them as the two sat at opposite ends of the court. That lack of interaction came nearly one year to the date when the two had a very public bromance in Las Vegas.

On this week’s episode of “Can U Dig It,” a podcast by the Silver Screen & Roll network, I welcome in our own Cooper Halpern for a long overdue in-person episode in Las Vegas. We start off with the hot-button topic of the weekend in the odd staredown between James and Westbrook on Friday.

Then, the discussion moves to what is causing this awkward dynamic between Russ, LeBron and the Lakers. While Darvin Ham has remained adamant in Russ being part of next year’s team, the Lakers’ front office continues to shop him actively. While neither side is necessarily wrong in doing so, it’s creating an awkward situation that showed itself publicly on Friday.

We also dive into reported Plan B of Buddy Hield and Myles Turner as well as some Summer League musings on Scotty Pippen Jr., Max Christie and Cole Swider.

You can listen to all that and more on our latest episode in the player embedded below, and to make sure you don’t miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude. 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.

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