Russell Westbrook calls LeBron James ‘fake s**t’ to teammate after bizarre incident with Will Smith

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently preparing for the upcoming 2025-26 season, in which they will begin the season with LeBron James on the sidelines. It’s been a steady rise for the Lakers over the past few years since their disastrous 2021-22 season, in which Russell Westbrook was their point guard and they missed the playoffs entirely.

It quickly became apparent to viewers that Westbrook and James didn’t have much synergy as teammates, and recently The Ringer’s Jaron Weitzman reported to the incident during the early part of the 2022-23 season, which apparently pushed them further apart.

It all happened when actor Will Smith visited the Lakers practice to talk to the team. As Smith was given a tour of the facility before meeting the players, James and teammate Anthony Davis apparently left the room, and James said: “You all have this.”

When Westbrook asked what was going on, teammate Patrick Beverley informed him that “Those two can do whatever they want. They won a championship.”

Then-Lakers head coach Darwin Hamm then walked into the room, left and brought back James and Davis, and Smith finally came in to talk to the team, at which point Westbrook began to see through James’ facade.

“LeBron was first. He had a question, he said. Smith answered. Then LeBron had another question. And another after that and another after that and another after that. He went on and on, stretching what should have been a 30-minute session into almost an hour,” Weitzman reported.

“I hate that fake shit,” Westbrook told his teammate.

All in all, the incident was a good encapsulation of just how tumultuous the Westbrook era has truly been for the Lakers.

Tough time for the Lakers

As previously mentioned, the Los Angeles Lakers ended up missing the playoffs altogether in the 2021-22 season. The following year, they would eventually trade Westbrook and bounce back to reach the Western Conference Finals, followed by first-round exits in 2024 and 2025.

This year in Los Angeles, they are hoping that the first full season with Luka Doncic will yield fruitful results.

The Lakers open the season on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.