Those around Russell Westbrook felt he was used as scapegoat for Rockets' playoff loss to Lakers, per report

Westbrook was traded to the Wizards in exchange for John Wall

After just one short and strange season in Houston, Russell Westbrook is off to Washington in a blockbuster trade that saw the Rockets and Wizards swap him and John Wall. And as is the case any time there's a big move like this, we're starting to get leaks about what was going on behind the scenes in the lead-up. 

In regards to Westbrook, it had been clear for a while now that he wanted out of Houston, and now we know why. Following the Rockets' meek playoff exit against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round, Westbrook felt he was being turned into a convenient scapegoat, according to Kelly Iko and Fred Katz of The Athletic:

Prior to the Orlando bubble in July, Westbrook contracted COVID-19 and also sustained a quadriceps injury, two factors that likely affected his subpar playoff performance, part of the second-round, five-game exit at the hands of the Lakers — a defeat which sources believe is the real reason Harden and Westbrook wanted to leave.

Sources close to Westbrook believe the nine-time All-Star was being made out to be a scapegoat of sorts for Houston's playoff meltdown, with his poor showing making him an easy target — eerily similar to what happened with Paul and Harden following the Rockets' Game 6 collapse against the Warriors in 2019.

It is true that Westbrook was bad in the second round against the Lakers. He put up 19.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, but shot 42.4 percent from the field, 25.9 percent from 3-point land and turned it over more than four times per game. You're never going to win a playoff series -- especially one against the eventual champions -- with one of your best players submitting that kind of performance. 

However, as already noted, Westbrook at the time had only recently returned from a quad injury and COVID-19, so he was nowhere near 100 percent. Plus, it's not like the rest of the team was amazing and he was single-handedly dragging them down. Houston got crushed in that series, losing the last three games by double digits, including a 23-point no-show in a season-ending Game 5. 

Did Westbrook deserve criticism for his play? Of course, but perhaps not as much as he got, both internally and externally. If the Rockets had kept the group together, it's likely the next few seasons would have ended in a similar fashion, with a playoff defeat at the hands of a superior team. And if Westbrook could see that coming, and felt he was always going to take the blame, it's easy to see why he wouldn't want to deal with that anymore.