During his introductory press conference earlier this month, new Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony was asked when he had truly accepted the idea of coming off the bench and committed to contributing in that role. He told reporters that it didn’t happen until last season when he started only three of 69 games for the Trail Blazers. It wasn’t an easy transition for the future Hall of Famer, but he embraced the new challenge, averaging 13.4 points per game while shooting a career-high 40.9 percent from 3-point range.
“You go 16, 17 years, and you’re the guy on the team. You’re the star,” Anthony said. “Then, all of the sudden, somebody’s like, ‘Listen, come off the bench.’ I had to swallow that ego. I had to swallow that pride. But I also had to use that ego and that pride to keep me on edge and keep me motivated. I’ve accepted that. It played out well in Portland. That was my first time doing it and experiencing that at that level.”
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Anthony has come a long way since his infamous 2017 media day appearance with the Thunder when he answered a question about being a reserve by jokingly saying, “Who me?” He has run the NBA gamut, going from franchise player in Denver and New York, to secondary option in Oklahoma City and Houston, to completely out of the league.
“Ego is checked. My ego has been checked because I understand it’s all about having perspective on your situation,” Anthony said. “Again, most things, a lot of things in this league, it’s not in our control. We’ve gotta control what we can control, and I’ve learned that over the years.”
Russell Westbrook, another offseason addition for the Lakers and Anthony’s former teammate, knows a thing or two about control. He is a man who has been particular about his approach, style, parking spot and pregame sandwiches. In order for Los Angeles to reach its full potential, though, Westbrook must learn from Anthony and relinquish some on-court control to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the dynamic duo hoping to hang another championship banner in the Staples Center.
When posed with questions about fitting alongside James and Davis during his own introductory press conference, Westbrook brushed off any concerns.
“Me being their teammate, my job is to come in and uplift them, and they’ll do the same with me, vice versa. As the season prolongs, we will figure it out,” Westbrook said. “There will be ups. There will be downs. That’s normal. That’s OK. We will figure out how to play the best way that we want to play to be able to win a championship.”
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Westbrook is undeniably talented and hard-working, and he genuinely cares. That shouldn’t be dismissed. The problem is that, to this point in his career, Westbrook simply hasn’t “figured it out.”
As a rookie with the Thunder back in 2008-09, Westbrook finished third on the team in field goal attempts. He has been first or second in every other season in his career, sometimes shooting more frequently than even superstar teammates such as Kevin Durant and James Harden. Westbrook never thinks twice about launching from deep despite being the least accurate high-volume 3-point shooter in NBA history.
While he will be a key offensive creator for the Lakers, Westbrook must recognize a contested jump shot is a wasted possession when he has dynamic scorers like James and Davis on the floor. That means learning to weaponize his speed and athleticism with decisive moves off the catch, cuts to the basket and pick-and-roll actions. He will also be required to take on challenging defensive assignments at times after Los Angeles lost strong perimeter stoppers in Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
“As you know, [James] is one of the best players to play this game, and his ability to be able to kind of do everything on the floor allows me to be able to just figure it out,” Westbrook said. “I’m coming to a championship-caliber team, and my job is to make sure that I’m able to make his game easy for him.”
Again, “just figure it out” — not as easy as it sounds. But Westbrook has someone in the locker room who actually did the work. Anthony ceded the spotlight to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in Portland and took less field goal attempts than Gary Trent Jr. and Norman Powell last season. Anthony wasn’t always a team-first guy — just ask George Karl — but he has absolutely shown a willingness to sacrifice the past couple years.
He hasn’t hit the same lows as Anthony, but Westbrook hasn’t exactly been on a run of sustained success. He became the first MVP to be traded in three straight offseasons this summer, and he hasn’t made it beyond the second round of the NBA playoffs since 2016, his last season with Durant, who went on to win multiple titles as a member of the Warriors.
There is reason to be skeptical. Perhaps Westbrook is incapable of major change. This is a new stage and set of circumstances for him, though, and as Anthony noted, age and experience can lead to better understanding.
“I think we’re all just ready to take on whatever role that is that all of us need to do or need to take on in order to reach that ultimate goal,” Anthony said. “Which we all know what that is at this point.”
Anthony learned the hard way that in order to avoid an undesirable outcome, the solution was to look inward and change himself. Can Westbrook do the same?
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