LA Lakers owner and president Jeanie Buss has rated Russell Westbrook as the best player of the team in the previous season. The Lakers had a disappointing run in the last edition as they could not even qualify for the play-in tournament.

Russell Westbrook was blamed by many NBA analysts for the team’s poor show. Westbrook was signed by the Lakers before the start of the previous season and he was expected to make a winning combination with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

However, as things turned out, Davis was once again troubled by injury woes and James also could not play consistently due to injury troubles. In fact, these Big 3 of the team could only play in 21 matches together in which they had an 11-10 record.

Buss feels injury troubles were the reason for the Lakers’ poor show and not the performances of Russell Westbrook. It should be noted that Westbrook consistently played in almost all the matches for the Lakers in the last edition.

On the Athletic NBA show, Jeanie Buss said, “He was our best player last year. He played pretty much every single game, showed up, and worked hard. I would have loved to have seen what this team would have looked like if they stayed healthy.”

“It’s really tough to win when Anthony Davis isn’t on the court. LeBron was hurt a lot of the season, but Russ showed up every game and played hard every night. I really appreciate him for who he is and what he brings to the team.”

Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in 78 games in the previous season and he will be looking to come up with a much-improved show.