Patrick Beverley revealed Darvin Ham wanted Russell Westbrook’s number to apologize

Russell Westbrook

​In their first rodeo together in 2021-22, they missed the playoffs with a horrendous 33-49 record. They tried one more time the following year, but after a 25-30 start, the Lakers pulled the plug on the experiment and traded Westbrook. Ham was also fired at the end of that season as the Lakers went in another direction.

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A year later, former Lakers guard Patrick Beverley claims that he bumped into Ham at the Summer League, and the former Lakers head coach admitted he was wrong about him and Westbrook, but Beverley told him it was too late.

“I’m at the Wynn, me and my lady,”

“I’m playing back around. I’m trying to get closest to the motherf-g eye. I see Darvin Ham walk past. ‘Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?’ Part of me wants to say no. Ah, ‘What up, coach?’ He said, ‘You was right.’ ‘I what?’ ‘I just want to tell you you was right. You and Russ were right. Y’all were the leaders of my team. You was right. You got Russ’ number? I need to apologize to him.’ ‘Too late now.’

‘What you mean?”This man out of L.A. They call him Westbrick. They doing all these types of names about him.”

​Ham demoted Westbrook to a bench role during the 2022-23 season

Westbrook was the easy scapegoat for the Lakers’ failed 2021-22 season because LeBron and AD won a title in 2020, and they went 33-49 when they added Russ two years later. But the problem was much more than that, and it included Ham, who was starting to lose control of his locker room and demoted Westbrook to a bench role during the 2022-23 season before Russ got traded.

While Westbrook still produced impressive numbers off the bench, he struggled with being relegated to a reserve role after having started every game since his second year in the league. According to Beverley, Ham failed to recognize Westbrook’s leadership and the example he showed every day in the gym.

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“Russ stretched every time. Every team, he was the first one there. Your leaders were different. And he didn’t know that. It wasn’t your time to say LeBron James is not my leader. We know fuc–g LeBron James is your leader. We know Anthony Davis is your leader. I know Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are the leaders of the team. But it’s different leaders. It’s the people that got the heart and soul of the team. The team that you need, the fu-g engine your car need to go from point A to point B. And if you don’t got that, I don’t care what fu-n car you got. You got a motherfu-g Lamborghini, that motherfu–r ain’t getting that,” he added.

Russ’ career was never the same after that

Westbrook never played a game for the Utah Jazz, the team the Lakers traded him to. Instead, he accepted a buyout and finished the 2022-23 season with the L.A. Clippers, where he started the rest of the year. He returned to play for the Clippers in 2023-24, but once again he was asked to come off the bench, which he did, and he did well.

Russ signed with the Denver Nuggets for the 2024-25 campaign, and many thought he had a strong bounce-back season. However, the Nuggets still did not want him back after the season. Last year, Russ played for the Sacramento Kings, and as he did in Denver, Westbrook posted impressive numbers, given his role, playing time, and age. He still hadn’t gotten a call after the year.

With no offers, Westbrook decided to call it a career. Many say Russ could have played at least two or three more seasons and contributed valuably to a team. However, it seems he carried his forgettable Lakers resume with him, which affected the rest of his NBA career. And not even an apology from Ham could have changed that.

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This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 6:10 PM.