LAWNDALE, California – “Go home,” Russell Westbrook yelled at a bouncer sitting behind the players bench. “Go home,” he repeated.
The crowds at this late-February blowout to the humble New Orleans Pelicans had quickly turned. The booing and taunts were so bad that Mr. Westbrook seemed ready to confront the fans in the front row. LeBron James got into a sideline argument with a trash talker, while Trevor Ariza had to be physically restrained from confronting another.
“You’re not Kobe, you’re not Kobe,” said one fan carelessly, said Michael Morales, who filmed the exchange in court at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Yelling drunk people is normal. Athletes yelling back isn’t — especially to fans in seats that cost $3,500 a pop.
“I’m a die-hard Laker fan,” said Mr. Morales, a 38-year-old mailman who drives around town after every shift, comes to more games than Jack Nicholson and posts close-up clips that help him earn money. thousands of dollars on Facebook Reels. But “right now,” he said, “it’s hard to watch.” Mr. Morales’ pain and extra income will soon end: Tuesday night, after a loss to Phoenix, the Lakers were eliminated in the postseason.
Mr. Westbrook joined the Lakers last July, after stints with the Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards, marred by injuries and a case of Covid, in a blockbuster that brought him to the team he grew up and idolized.
Although his performance this season has made him the target of angry fans, much of Mr. Westbrook off the track to bloom. There’s a revealing new Showtime movie, a History Channel documentary, a recent art book, a new collection of clothing, along with an educational foundation and community involvement that belies its temperamental image.
All of that should come as no surprise to many who have followed or been involved in his career. “He knows how to be a star,” said Simon Doonanwho spent three decades as creative director of Barneys New York.
mr. Doonan, now a judge on the TV show “Making It,” recalls past collections featuring Mr. Westbrook where he “selected fabrics, worked and approved designs” and recorded videos together, “the most fun I’ve had in my career.”
But while Mr. Westbrook’s off-court life has been filled with success, his basketball season has been so rocky that hometown believers have turned against the Los Angeles native — so much so that his wife recently tweeted that the family had “death wishes.” had received.” The former Laker Shaquille O’Neal has advised slowing down, and he’s even been benched and shopped in trade talks.
Mr. Westbrook has responded defiantly to “Westbrick” booing and taunts; speaking to a group of reporters after the loss of Pelicans, he said, “I have three beautiful children in my house, my wife, I am not taking it home.”
But just days later, in a post-game interview, he changed his mind, saying the taunts had hit him, alluding to more important things than basketball, an epiphany akin to the Showtime movie “Passion Play,” in which he is introspective. in a way that may still be uncommon among professional athletes. “The way I compete has made me an easy target,” he says in the film, almost as if there were two Russells. “In the sports world, I’m the bad guy. People don’t really understand who I am. I’ll be lying if I say it didn’t bother me.”
The return
Born in Long Beach, California, Mr. Westbrook grew up in Hawthorne, near South Central Los Angeles, attended high school in Lawndale, and then spent two years in Westwood at the University of California, Los Angeles. He entered the NBA in 2008 and immediately became known for his fiery play and fashion sense.
In the 1970s, New York Knicks star Walt “Clyde” Frazier introduced player-approved sneakers, mink coats, Zorro hats and capes. Twenty years later, Dennis Rodman raised the bar, once in a wedding dress at a book signing. In the age of social media, Mr. Westbrook turned the arena tunnel into a pregame catwalk.
Being six feet tall, he can shop off the rack, but he rarely plays it safe, preferring vibrant patterns or, say, a white kilt at the Thom Browne show in the spring of 2022 – bold statements in the hyper-macho sports world.
He embraced his role as a fashion star with vigor and spent fashion weeks in New York, Paris and Milan with the likes of Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Raymond Pettibon and Tim Coppens.
“You wouldn’t want to get in his way on the field. Personally, he’s completely different,” said Anthony Petrillose, the associate publisher of Rizzoli New York, which published “Russell Westbrook: Style Drivers” with cover art by Mr. pettibon. “The experience was, ‘I’m here to learn, I want the best book possible – how do we do that?'”
Honor the Gift, the fashion brand of Mr. Westbrook, has done pop-ups in Los Angeles and Paris and released a collection called Concrete Jungle earlier this month. The summer capsule collection was a tribute to swap meet; last fall was a wonderful reinterpretation of the soul soundtrack of growing up in Hawthorne.
“Russell takes fashion as seriously as a point guard,” said Ms. Wintour, who last saw him in November at Madison Square Garden, where he “generously presented me with his sneakers afterwards. They were a little too big for me. but luckily I was with my 6-4 nephew, who happily took them.”
But the Lakers lost that night – and Mr. Westbrook looks unhappy at work. While working with Nike’s Jordan brand on a full-foot system for his shoes, delving into Honor the Gift designs and carefully constructing his homecoming, the basketball pass in Los Angeles has been bumpy.
Last June, Honor the Gift teamed up with Jordan and Mr. Westbrook’s Why Not? Foundation, building a basketball court and sponsoring tech and design workshops at a YMCA in the city’s Crenshaw District. (Jordan has been producing Westbrook’s signature shoe and Why Not? clothing since 2018.) Named after a favorite saying, the nonprofit foundation supports social initiatives and schools.
“Style is a weapon and it doesn’t stop at clothing,” said Sam Sohaili, who heads DMA United, a creative agency that works with Mr. Westbrook has collaborated on branded deals. “Russell’s style is how he treats people.”
Such interactions support the two-Russells theory: enjoy the villain role and then play the opposite. (Despite multiple attempts, Mr. Westbrook declined to comment on this article.)
Playing in Los Angeles also means Hollywood. Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, which he executive produced, premiered last May and other projects are in development.
And just when he appears to be another celebrity cashing in on money, he crosses over. During a grueling December playoff, days after enforcing NBA safety protocols due to positive coronavirus tests in the team’s tour group and then testing negative for Covid, Mr. Westbrook donned a Santa hat and grinning tracksuit, posed for photos and gave each Why not? new student sneakers.
“Sometimes the priority isn’t what you’re getting paid for,” noted legendary Compton rapper DJ Quik, just before the Lakers were crushed by the Crosstown Clippers in March.
leuzinger
South of the Crypto.com Arena, at Leuzinger High School in working-class Lawndale, one of the first things you see is a 50-foot mural of a floating you-know-who plastered over the Gloria Ramos Cafeteria. Across the campus, at Thompson Gymnasium, a well-known name and jersey number hangs over the field where Mr. Westbrook led the Olympians to a 25-4 senior record in 2006.
“It was inevitable that he would go to the NBA,” recalls Patrick Cleveland, a high school teammate who lived down the street from Mr. Westbrook and now coaches and works here as a security officer.
We spoke just as the trade deadline passed and the Lakers decided to send Mr. Westbrook not to trade. In Lawndale, he is still a prince of the town who stood up, made amends and remained faithful.
To understand the two Russells means to understand a tragic what ifsaid Marlon Mendez, a former coach and now the school’s athletic director. What if Mr. Westbrook’s best friend, Khelcey Barrs, hadn’t collapsed after a series of fetch games at Los Angeles Southwest College on May 11, 2004?
Khelcey was a six-foot sophomore on his way to the NBA until a heart condition ended everything at 16. “We all had that chip on our shoulder, but Russell took it on,” said Mr. cleveland. “Everyone thinks he’s an energetic guy. People don’t understand what he’s playing for. We were all hurt, but he was the one who was able to carry on that name. I’m grateful that Russell made it through and carried that name with him.”
After his death, Mr. Westbrook walked across the street and did Khelcey’s chores for class. Today, he wears wristbands and shoes with the initials KB3, Leuzinger basketball is sponsored by Jordan, and the former high school star remains a fixture.
“I grew up with him,” said Amir Jones, a 16-year-old junior and security guard from Compton. “At school, games, Jordan events. It’s crazy because an NBA player went to your school and he’s someone I can reach.”
It’s not uncommon for Mr. Westbrook to drop by, said Mr. Jones, the son of Leuzinger coach Arturo Jones, one of the many formative figures Mr. Westbrook still leans on. “His legacy offers opportunities for us. He is uplifting. Once I was training with him and missing shots, he pulled me aside. He said, ‘Trust, don’t stop. If you miss 20, keep shooting.’”
What about Mr Westbrook’s confidence? The Boo?
“There’s a lot of negativity around him for no reason,” said Mr. Jones. “He keeps shooting. He does not matter. It’s Russian.”
