Shannon Sharpe goes off on Russell Westbrook's lack of professionalism for ducking the media 

Russell Westbrook has had a generally positive relationship with the NBA media world throughout his career, but after he faltered at the end of the Denver Nuggets' loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 1st, he has gone cold. The sports media world piled criticism on the former MVP since the loss, and interactions with them since then have earned him a warning from the NBA.

Russell Westbrook is a former NBA MVP who has finally found a home with the Denver Nuggets after playing for six different teams in the last seven years, but his mistakes at the end of the Timberwolves game have been a point of emphasis in the media world. Westbrook's reaction to that has former NFL tight-end and sports analyst Shannon Sharpe calling him out as a professional.

Sharpe critiqued how Russell Westbrook is choosing to handle the situation on Monday's episode of Nightcap, a podcast he hosts alongside Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson. To him, Westbrook's actions are a display of the point guard's lack of professionalism when he is faced with adversity.

"What you do is your profession, you're a professional," said Sharp about his perspective on the situation. "A pro is how you go about doing your job. You can be a professional without being a pro, and you can be a pro without being a professional."

Sharpe went on to say that Westbrook's actions are inconsistent and that when he is playing well, he seeks out the media instead of avoiding them.

"Now he ended up going three games without talking to the media. You know that's a part of the obligation. That's why you make the big bucks," Sharpe said about Westbrook's actions. "And now, when things go bad, you don't wanna talk, but when he was getting those triple doubles, you couldn't beat him to the mic."

Russell Westbrook's interactions with the media could pull focus from the Nuggets' real goals

Russell Westbrook's refusal to talk to the media after games has become a problem, but it runs the risk of becoming a distraction to the Denver Nuggets as a whole. After their narrow defeat at the hands of the Timberwolves, the Nuggets have almost no room for error for the rest of the season as they fight to stay in the top six in the Western Conference.

While their team might be as dangerous as in years past, the Nikola Jokic and Co. are still one of the most feared teams in the Western Conference. However, a slide in their last few games could see the Nuggets fall all the way into the play-in tournament. With three games left, Denver needs focus from everyone, including their backup point guard.

Russell Westbrook has brought the Nuggets everything they could have asked for this season. He and Jokic have formed one of the more interesting duos the league has to offer, and his energy off the bench has become an integral part of Mike Malone's game plan. If he can overcome his problems with the media, he could play a key role in a deep playoff run.