Darvin Ham says Russell Westbrook is willing to accept potential move to bench

Russell Westbrook has been a disaster for the Los Angeles Lakers from the jump. More than a year later, nothing has changed.

At one point last season then-head coach Frank Vogel tried to get Westbrook to accept a supporting role off the bench. He refused. Vogel wound up getting fired in the offseason.

Now, several months later, new head coach Darvin Ham tried his hand at getting Westbrook to accept a new role.

He got a different sort of response than Vogel did.

“It’s something we’ve touched on, you know, during the summer here and there,” Ham said on Friday, per Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

“And you know, (Westbrook) has been a pro, man, Russ is one of the most beautiful human beings I’ve ever come across in this business, on and off the floor. He totally understood, totally looked me in my eye and told me, said, ‘Yeah, coach, whatever you need me to do.’”

Unfortunately, the Lakers still got blown out by the Sacramento Kings on Friday night — even with Westbrook coming off the bench. Plus, he got hurt in the process — adding injury to the insult of him still being on the roster.

The reality is, Westbrook needs to be traded. Not benched. Traded. He knows it, which is why he is lashing out on social media these days. And the team knows it – which is why they’re quietly still investigating if there are any deals out there for them.

The Lakers have been linked to one realistic Westbrook trade in recent weeks, but time will tell if it’ll actually come to fruition.

If it doesn’t, though, this team is in for a world of hurt over the next few months.

Bad teams lose in the NBA. And L.A. is a very, very bad team at the moment.