Westbrook vs. the world: OKC star surrounded by Warriors at All-Star Weekend
Picture yourself at a five-star restaurant, the kind where reservations are hard to come by on any night but especially when it’s a special holiday like this.
Then, amid all that bliss and build-up, this sordid sequence of events unfolds: your better half can’t make it, and somehow you wind up at a table with the ex – and their friends – not long after you both endured the most bitter of breakups. Awkward…
That’s what Russell Westbrook is facing this weekend, when the Oklahoma City Thunder star will be sharing locker rooms, social scenes, minutes and – if the fans have their way – even some court time with the bevy of Golden State Warriors who will surround him. As if it’s not enough that Westbrook is outnumbered, with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and his former Thunder teammate, Kevin Durant, making up a third of the Western Conference team’s roster, or that Warriors coach Steve Kerr is calling the shots, Westbrook has only had less than a week to recover from the reunion game.
On Saturday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, where Durant was booed mercilessly amid chants of “Cupcake” in his first return to the place where he played for eight seasons, Westbrook and Durant did nothing to quell this storm. There was trash talking between the two, and another dust-up between Durant and former teammate, Andre Roberson. Long before then, just a few minutes into the first quarter of the Warriors’ 130-114 win, Westbrook had claimed to official Marc Davis that Green was hurling expletives his way.
Afterward, as the Warriors headed for the exits with a noticeable decline in political correctness, Green – as the kids would say – trolled Westbrook hard. He conducted his postgame interview in one of the Westbrook-inspired ‘Cupcake’ t-shirts that so many fans had worn that night, the attire serving as their way of calling Durant soft for leaving town. The backstory involved Westbrook posting a picture of cupcakes on Instagram not long after Durant’s decision as a way of expressing what he thought of it.
Add this to the photographer outfit that Westbrook wore to the first Warriors-Thunder affair at Oracle Arena on Nov. 3 (another coded, perceived slight), and his edginess that ensued on Jan. 18 when he took offense to Zaza Pachulia’s style and vowed to “get his ass back,” and the list grows longer with every matchup. All of which begs a fair question as we head into All-Star weekend: are the Warriors, after all these Westbrook-involved subplots, upset with how he has handled Durant’s exit?
“I think he’s been great (this season),” Green told USA TODAY Sports in a matter-of-fact tone when asked the question. “He’s played his ass off all year.”
But about the cupcake subplot…
“The off the court stuff is what it is,” he continued. “I think everybody handles stuff differently. To say he’s handled something wrong, I’m not in a position to (say that). It’s not up to me to say how he should handle something, or if he’s right in what he said or if he’s wrong. I’m not in that position. I’m gonna ride for my guys. You in this blue and gold with me, we rock together.”
MORE NBA:
Isaiah Thomas: From final draft pick to NBA stardom
Klay Thompson Q&A: Talking All-Star, Warriors' potential, his dog Rocco
Draymond Green: Dolan had 'slave master mentality' toward Oakley
And then, a slice of truth, one aimed not so much at Westbrook but at the Thunder contingent on the whole.
“It has definitely pissed me off (how they have reacted to Durant’s exit),” Green said. “I think some of the stuff is a bit overboard. I think when you look at what he did for this organization, and for this community, it should be appreciated. But it’s not. But I’m not the one who’s in the position to say how I would feel if it was me. I don’t know, so it is what it is. I’m gonna ride for my guy though.”
Even with the many convoluted layers that come with the Warriors-Westbrook situation, this much seems clear: from Durant on down, the Warriors are tired of this idea that they’re the villains and Westbrook is the victim. And now, having learned the hard way that everything they say will be heard through the anti-Westbrook megaphone that is driving all this drama, they’re more sensitive than ever to the silliness that surrounds this story.
GALLERY: NBA ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS
Case in point, this exchange back on Feb. 4.
A week before the proverbial gloves came off between the two sides, Green was still playing nice. He was asked to do an interview for a story about triple doubles, to offer perspective on some of the historic numbers that – from Westbrook on down – were piling up this season. Green, the two-time All-Star who can fill up a box score as well as anyone, wanted no part of it. As he’d learned earlier this season, when his comments about not chasing triple doubles were seen as some sort of shot at Westbrook for allegedly hunting them down, there was no upside to talking about this topic.
“No, I’m not talking in this piece,” he said with a smile as he walked away during a shoot-around in Sacramento. “Russell Westbrook and (the Houston Rockets’) James Harden is the voice of triple doubles. If I say something (for the story), I’m hating, so I’m just going to stay out of that piece.”
Durant, who was nearby, chimed in after asking Green about the topic of discussion.
“Two things you can’t ask this team about, man: triple doubles and unselfishness,” Durant said with a laugh, the latter quip a reference to the way his mid-October remarks about the Warriors’ selflessness were seen as anti-Thunder sentiments and led to Westbrook deeming them “cute.”
The only saving grace this weekend, when it comes to this Warriors-Westbrook dynamic? At least Pachulia won’t be there.
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick