Lakers’ Russell Westbrook Exits Early With a Hamstring Injury

A hamstring injury forced Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook to an early exit during a preseason game.

russell westbrook
Photo via SB Nation

Los Angeles Lakers star Russell Westbrook only logged five minutes before a hamstring injury forced him to exit the team’s preseason matchup against the Sacramento Kings. Shams Charania of The Athletic confirmed that the All-Star guard did sustain a left hamstring injury and that he will be out for the rest of the Kings game.

This is another disappointing turn of events for the Lakers, right after learning that newly-acquired scoring guard Dennis Schroder has also sustained a probable long-term finger injury. Schroder suffered his injury during a previous preseason game and was not available in tonight’s battle against the Kings.

An interesting storyline heading into this game is the Lakers’ plan to bring Westbrook off the bench, instead of slotting him in the starting lineup. Since the 2009-10 season — his second year in the league — Westbrook has been a starter in all the games that he played in. Termed “realignment” by Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, the plan to bring him off the bench is indeed unfamiliar territory for the 33-year-old Westbrook.

If the Westbrook-Sixth Man strategy doesn’t work out, we may see the nine-time All-Star playing elsewhere this season. There were speculations that he might be out of Los Angeles when the team brought in defensive-minded point guard Patrick Beverley, but no concrete moves have materialized yet. The Lakers are bent on making this work, but there’s no doubt that they’re facing a season full of challenges and uncertainties.

Russell Westbrook is entering his second year with the Lakers, and there’s still hope that he could mesh well with James and Davis. In his first season with the Lakers, he averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists.

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