Should Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley get rings if Lakers win NBA title?
The Lakers are still alive in the NBA playoffs, tied at one game apiece with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.
Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley are no longer part of the team this postseason after being dealt by the Lakers before the NBA’s trade deadline in February and landing on teams that are done for the season.
Yet, Beverley says he wants a ring if the Lakers win the NBA championship. He says Westbrook does too.
Speaking on “The Pat Bev Podcast With Rone” this week, Beverley related a recent conversation he had with Westbrook in the gym.
“Russy goes, ‘Hey, Pat. Lakers win, I want my ring,’’’ Beverley said before letting out a big laugh and covering his face.
Anthony Davis and LeBron James were pummelled by a Golden State Warriors team that made it clear in Game 2 it will not make life easy for the Lakers.
“‘I ain’t gonna lie, Russ,’” Beverley said he responded to his former Lakers teammate. “ ‘We’re going to be suited and booted, boy. I’m going to be right there, waiting on that ring.’ ”
As he and podcast co-host Rone laughed at the idea of Beverley making the traditional White House visit with the NBA champions, Beverley again declared, “If they win … I’mma get that ring.”
Clearly, Beverley was at least half-joking. But it’s an interesting question: If the Lakers win a title this year (and, of course, there’s a long way to go before that happens), should Beverley, Westbrook and others who were on the roster at some point during the season be honored as champions?
It seems like something the Lakers would do. They are said to have offered rings to players from 2019-2020 season who were no longer with the team when it defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals that year, when they completed the season in a bubble at the Disney World sports complex in Orlando, Fla.
Also, Magic Johnson tweeted that he and his wife, Cookie, also received 2020 championship rings from the Lakers, even though Johnson resigned as president of basketball operations at the end of the previous season.
NBA superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry are among the reasons the cheapest tickets to the Lakers-Warriors game Saturday are $500.
This season, the Lakers rebuilt their roster with a flurry of moves in late January and early February. Beverley, Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Thomas Bryant, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones were replaced by Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Mo Bamba, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.
At the Feb. 9 trade deadline, the Lakers were 25-30 and in 13th place in the Western Conference; they finished the season at 43-39 and the seventh-best record in the West, then defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in a play-in game for the No. 7 seed and the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.
Westbrook started in 21 of his 52 games with the Lakers this season. He averaged 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 3.5 turnovers while playing 28.7 minutes a game. Beverley started in all 45 of his games with the Lakers. He averaged 6.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and less than one turnover while playing 26.9 minutes a game.
So what do you think? Should Beverley and Russell get rings if (and, again, that’s a very big if) the Lakers win the championship this year?
Go beyond the scoreboard
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