Russell Westbrook’s disastrous debut season with the Los Angeles Lakers has been met with criticism and slights from many fans and even media members.
The former NBA MVP hasn’t taken kindly to receiving blame for the Lakers’ season going off the rails, but his basketball peer Damian Lillard offered some advice on how to deal with the media criticism.
“If I had to tell him anything, I would just tell him, face the music,” Lillard said while joining Fox Sports host Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast. “The criticism, it’s gonna happen. You’re playing in one of the biggest markets, so I would just face it.”
.@Dame_Lillard gives Russell Westbrook advice on how to deal with the criticism:
“Face the music & just deal with it, it’s gonna happen. Russell Westbrook's career and legacy is undeniable. If I tried to go every game and get a triple-double for a whole season, I can't do it." pic.twitter.com/ws1hMkdr7Q
— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) March 28, 2022
Westbrook has taken exception to the various insults and quips that people have thrown his way this season, specifically with those who use the term “Westbrick” as a way of mocking the point guard’s shooting woes.
“It’s really the shaming of my name. The shaming of my character,” Westbrook explained earlier this month. “The shaming of who I am as a person is to me, it’s not warranted.”
Fans aren’t the only ones “shaming” Westbrook’s name, with Sharpe’s co-host Skip Bayless being a frequent abuser of the jeer. And recently, Westbrook has taken it upon himself to confront people who mock his last name, but according to Lillard, the Lakers guard should just deal with the criticism.
“Whatever the questions y’all are asking me, whether I think it’s a dumb question or something that is self-explanatory or whatever. Just face it and deal with it or whatever,” Lillard said of the advice he would give to Westbrook.
“Russell Westbrook’s career and legacy is undeniable,” Lillard continued. “That’s just the bottom line. The career he’s had, what he’s accomplished and the things that he’s done, nobody else has been able to do it. I don’t care if you’re stat-chasing or whatever people wanna say. If I tried to go every game and get a triple-double for a whole season, I can’t do it. And there’s a lot of other people that can’t do it either.”
