Charles Barkley has some harsh words for the Los Angeles Lakers because Russell Westbrook was benched in the final 3 minutes and 52 seconds of the game against the Indiana Pacers. The Lakers are coming off a disappointing loss against the Indiana Pacers. This comes as a shock for many fans as Westbrook, a certified star and a part of the Lakers Big 3, was being replaced by Malik Monk in crunch time.

Explicitly, Charles Barkley spared the niceties speaking about the Lakers on NBA on TNT. Barkley was visibly upset by the way Lakers are handling themselves recouping from the 3 losses in the last 4 games. In particular, he believes that the Lakers management is to be blamed for putting this whole mess together in the first place.

Further, he can be seen expressing disappointment in the way the Lakers management is putting all the blame on Westbrook and Vogel.

“The Lakers are such wussies, and I only say wussies because I can’t say the word I want to say. The way they have tried to throw Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel under the bus is just really pis*ing me off.”

Who was behind Vogel’s decision to bench Russell Westbrook?

Frank Vogel, the Lakers head coach, gave a blunt statement after the loss. “Playing the guys that I thought were going to win the game,” he said. Vogel has also recently faced his fair share of blame for Lakers’ poor performance, especially after the Nuggets’ blowout win by 37 points.

The Lakers have handed out clean instructions to optimize Westbrook in a manner that will benefit the team. Chiefly, there’s no set structure on the coaching regime surrounding Westbrook. This included removing Westbrook from the game per the discretion of the head coach.“You got to do what you got to do,” a person close to the issue said, describing the message from management to the team.

According to insiders, the coaching staff has been discussing whether or not to remove Westbrook from late-game scenarios for weeks. However, they always abstained due to concerns about the long-term impact on Westbrook’s mindset. His minute totals in the last 3 games before the Indiana matchup were less than 28 minutes for each game. Notably, this is only the second time in his career that he’s played 3 consecutive games under the 28 minute mark.

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What does this mean for Westbrook and the Lakers?

Consequently, a visibly upset Westbrook was seen walking off as he was subbed out. His fellow teammate, DeAndre Jordan, tried to make him stay till the end of the game. However, with around eight seconds left on the clock, Westbrook walked off the court and through the locker room before his teammates had completed showering.

The Lakers desperately need to bring about some changes and make their players comfortable in the team if they want to win games. Likewise, Carmelo Anthony said, “We gotta help him figure it out.” Considering that the Lakers are currently the 8th seed and going on a road trip, fans are praying for the Lakers to figure it out soon as they cannot afford to lose more games.

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