Russell Westbrook was busy with his phone during the postgame interview after a blowout game against Minnesota Timberwolves.
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LA Lakers had a bad game against Minnesota Timberwolves which was a blowout with 83-107 as the final score. Lakers were struggling in the offence and Westbrook couldn’t help much.
Russell Westbrook scored only 20 points and 3 assists. He took only 11 shots which is not that great considering he’s one of the primary offensive guys in the team.
Whether it was the bad game or his birthday, nobody knows for sure what led Russell Westbrook to give a post-game interview like that.
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Russell Westbrook has a tradition of disrespecting reporters in postgame interviews
Russell Westbrook was using his phone throughout the interview as multiple reporters were asking questions. Mr Triple Double was in no mood to answer those questions as it can be seen clearly.
The Lakers reporter named Ryan Ward took offence to it as he tweeted Westbrook’s behaviour as “disrespectful”. He believes that behaviour like this from players shows a lack of respect towards the media profession.
All the NBA players are required to be available for media post-game interviews. It is a part of the league-wide collective bargaining players contract with the NBA. But that guarantees the players’ cooperation nonetheless.
It is not the first time Russell Westbrook had issues with reporters. One such incident is a famous meme where he said “what? what are you talking about man?”
Things like these are not new to the NBA. Recently Kyrie Irving didn’t even appear for media day but came on Zoom to do the interview.
Lebron James left the interview when he was asked about JR Smith’s infamous play in Game 1 of the 2018 Finals.
Everybody remembers the “practice” interview of Allen Iverson when he was asked why is he missing practice sessions.