Westbrook, Irving and the dark side of their actions.

The NBA season is starting to take shape. After the media day held by all the franchises at the beginning of this week, many questions found answers, not only in the press conferences, but also in the interpretation of them.

There were those who sounded sincere, others not so much. There were those who were bold enough to clear up doubts, others who avoided getting into trouble. Some sold stories that were refuted minutes later and even those who tried to be politically correct but succumbed in the attempt.

The case of two stars, whose brilliance seems to have dimmed in recent seasons, proved to be emblematic: Kyrie Irving, on the one hand, focusing in part of his dialogue with the press on the pressures received for not being vaccinated against COVID. And also that of Russell Westbrook using correct answers to stinging questions, although the tone of them and, especially, the gestures made when listening to them, indicated something different than the commitment intended to be sold.

In most cases, you can’t appear politically correct if you’re not. Therefore, we analyzed the cases of both players who, perhaps without intending to do so, showed the different and, if you will, slightly darker side of their respective personalities.

Kyrie Irving: “get famous and go to sleep”.
With the same firmness that he defended his position of not being vaccinated against COVID, Kyrie Irving was not shy to confide to the press a fact that was not known: the possibility of signing a contract extension close to 100 million dollars.

According to what our colleague Nick Friedell reported, the point guard claimed to have given up a contract of “four years, 100-something million to decide not to get vaccinated … that was my decision. To [sign or not] sign the contract, to vaccinate or not vaccinate, the level of uncertainty about my future, whether I would be part of the league, whether I would play for this team or that team…I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job because of this decision,” the point guard said.

“We were supposed to have that all worked out before training camp last year,” Irving added. “And it just didn’t happen because of the status on whether or not I would be vaccinated. So I had to live with that. Honestly, it was a tough pill to swallow.”

However, his words were not attested to by the opinion of Nets GM Sean Marks, who rejected the notion that Irving received an “ultimatum” regarding his contract.

“There was no ultimatum given here,” Marks said. “Again, it comes down to the fact that you want people who are reliable, people who are here and accountable. Each and every one of us: staff, players, coaches, whoever it is. It’s not giving someone an ultimatum to get vaccinated. That’s completely a personal choice. I stand behind Kyrie. I think if he wants to, he can make that decision. That’s his prerogative entirely.”

This counterpoint only shows Irving’s less brilliant side when it comes to defending his positions: everything would seem to indicate that he seeks to accommodate the situation as he sees fit rather than tell every detail about how things really went down.

In another part of the conference, he was asked if there was interest from other franchises to sign him in case he did not exercise the option to continue in Brooklyn. “Not many,” Irving acknowledged, then admitted that there was stigma from them about whether or not he would be vaccinated, how many games he would miss in a season or even how committed he might be to his new team should he move on.

Far from being unfair, this course of action seems to be a natural conclusion after what happened last season with the Nets. In the same season, Irving could only play in certain places as a visitor, but not in the state of New York, since the state government declared it mandatory to be vaccinated against Covid.

Irving, should understand that his “bad reputation” was earned in large part by his actions and decisions. As the saying goes, “Get famous and go to sleep”.

Russell Westbrook: “You can’t cover the sun with a finger”.
The case of Russell Westbrook is also curious. The dreadful season he endured in his first year as a Lakers player (the worst of his career) led to a summer full of uncertainty.

Since the final press conference of last season, in which he did not hesitate to disqualify coach Frank Vogel, as well as to claim that LeBron James and Anthony Davis had not honored their commitment to support him in bad times more with deeds than words, his disinterest in remaining with the team was evident. Perhaps it is impossible to cover the sun with a finger.

The only sign of joy he showed in the summer was when he picked up his player option and secured the $47 million for the final year of his contract.

From there, everything was tough for him: a Dantesque episode at the Lakers’ first summer league game in Las Vegas (with him at one end of the arena and LeBron at the other end without speaking to each other), the firing of his longtime agent for irreconcilable differences and permanent trade rumors that, by the way, continued into last Monday’s media day.

In his dialogue with the press, Westbrook had a clear tactic: answer short, without elaborating too much on the answers, choosing the words that would paint him as someone committed to what he will have to deal with in the future. But he missed one detail: the tone of his answers and body language.

The tone was clearly to respond defensively, while his body language showed him as someone who wasn’t really paying attention to what was being asked, looking to one side or the other, averting his gaze from his interlocutor, among other things.

“Whether they want me here or not doesn’t really matter. My job is to be a professional and show up for work as I have always done,” was another phrase he threw into the air without mentioning any addressee. If he was trying to be politically correct, these statements showed his other side. And beyond that when practices began, the Lakers took it upon themselves to show a smiling Westbrook on social networks, while the coaches highlighted his attitude in practice and declared his commitment to apply himself on defense. But the question remains as to whether the facts will match his words in the future.

Meanwhile, GM Rob Pelinka’s statements about possible changes using future first-round draft picks also resonate. “We have one of the great players in LeBron James on our team. He committed to us with a long-term contract…So, of course, we’ll do everything we can, including picks, to make changes to give us the opportunity to help LeBron get to the end. He made a commitment to our organization. That has to be a bilateral commitment, and it’s there.”

In that bilateral commitment that the GM is talking about, will Westbrook be contemplated? Or rather, will Westbrook be involved in those potential changes?

There are questions that are answered even before they are asked.