Names were thrown at Russell Westbrook during his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, making him the scapegoat for the team's woes.
They said he was like a black hole that sucked the fun out of the team. They said he was a vampire.
That is not the way Austin Reaves sees him, though.
For the third-year guard, Westbrook is one of the nicest teammates he's had in his young NBA career.
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Reaves appeared at the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and shared that the 2016 MVP acted like a motivator and mentor to his teammates amid the team's struggles during the 2023 season.
"As a teammate, he was always empowering everybody to really be better or do better," Reaves said.
"Like you said he gets a bad rep, and I don't really understand why."
Good teammate, a better person
Reaves shared that Westbrook looked out for him even when they were no longer on the court.
This was when he was struck by Covid-19 and had to be isolated in Minnesota for a week. He said Brodie saw to it that he was doing well.
"He's one of the best teammates I've ever had," he explained. "As a person, you can't get much better. I got COVID (in) December of my rookie year in Minnesota. I was stuck in Minnesota for seven days so it was rough. But he reached out three or four times, asked if I need anything, offered to send me stuff, whatever I needed."
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