Lakers have 1 interesting offensive plan for Russell Westbrook next season

Dec 28, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook (0) in action during the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers appear to have a plan to cut down on the Westbricks next year.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports reported this week that the Lakers are hoping that guard Russell Westbrook will be able to improve his three-point shooting percentage from the corners in the 2022-23 campaign.

While many would argue that Westbrook is better off not taking threes at all, he actually shot a very respectable 45.1 percent on corner threes last season. The problem is that Westbrook did it on low volume (just 51 total attempts from the corner) and shot a wretched 56/214 (26.2 percent) on all other three-point attempts.

Granted, corner threes bring to mind role players like Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, and PJ Tucker. The subtext here is that the Lakers would probably prefer Westbrook to stand in the corner while others run the offense instead. That could be an impossible sell for a former MVP in Westbrook who is used to monopolizing the ball and clearly believes that he is still the bee’s knees.