Locker room vampire? Coach Ham defends Westbrook’s time with the Lakers: He’s the most professional player, no conflicts between us

When Westbrook left the Lakers, ESPN once reported that he “sucked the energy out of the locker room like a vampire.”The best person to clarify this is the then head coach Ham. On November 7th Beijing time, Ham revealed the true Westbrook during a podcast. Here is an excerpt from Ham’s talk—

Westbrook is one of the most professional players I have worked with.He has consistently maintained excellent physical condition, which is why he is still competing in the NBA—this is already his 18th season. For someone in his position, lasting this long is incredibly rare. His fitness and overall condition remain at an elite level, and he keeps refining his skills.

No matter which team he has played for, if you ask any of his teammates, you will get the same answer:They all have immense respect for Westbrook and genuinely like him.As a coach, we always strive to get the best out of the team, but often once players leave the locker room, you can’t control how they mesh with each other.

In today’s era, it’s not just about “selling newspapers” anymore; everyone chases clicks and views. What’s worse is that they don’t have to wait until the next morning—they can post anything anytime on phones or other devices, regardless of its truthfulness. As we mentioned before in interviews, dealing with social media issues is really tough.

There are always people fabricating stories out of thin air and making them public. These stories spread widely and escalate, and no one knows what’s true or where the information comes from. In our industry, the most harmful and worst phrase is “according to inside sources”—if a report starts with this, it should be ignored outright.

These so-called “inside information” articles, posts, tweets, or Instagram content are the most degrading and divisive things in our field. Especially as a coach, you should communicate honestly face-to-face with players, but such direct exchanges are becoming rarer. I used to tell some players, “My office door is always open, come talk to me anytime,” and they’d say, “I’m good, coach.” Yet, on my way home from the gym, I’d get six long messages from the same player. Players express themselves differently now.

But going back to Westbrook, the situation was indeed complicated at the time.To acquire a player like him, the team had to almost empty its roster—the Lakers did exactly that.To bring Westbrook in, they had to trade away several players and afterward couldn’t sign other strong players due to salary cap limitations—after all, there were already three max-contract players on the roster.

The remaining players were role players with some ability, but honestly, to win an NBA championship, a team needs an elite-level lineup, which salary caps often make difficult. Also, players’ skills must complement each other on the court.

It was my decision to start Westbrook off the bench to balance the team.I was well aware of the team’s defensive system: LeBron needed the ball, Anthony Davis needed the ball, and adding Westbrook meant three ball-dominant core players on the floor. I knew that to keep the team balanced and successful, tactical adjustments were necessary.

This decision proved effective. At first, unfortunately, some people disrespected him, booed him, and blamed him for the team’s problems. Butonce he made an impact off the bench, fans started cheering for him, and he received applause every time he entered the game. I lost count of how many times he turned the game’s negative momentum around and revitalized the team.

There is no conflict between Westbrook and meand I sincerely wish him all the best. When I first took over as Lakers coach, he even attended my press conference. I truly admire his character and his wonderful family. I hope one day we can sit down and have a good conversation.

He is now with the Kings, where my son also plays, and Westbrook shows great respect towards my son.The Kings have a great organization: Scott Perry, BJ Armstrong, Doug, Bobby Jackson, and coach Mike Woodson, plus Dennis Schröder, who is also a close friend of mine. I really appreciate the rebuilding work they are doing with the Kings.

To reiterate, Westbrook is one of the most classy players and definitely Hall of Fame caliber. His achievements in the league may not be matched for a long time.