"People look at Westbrook and think like he’s a nobody, he’s a nothing" - Rob Parker believes NBA 2K assigning same rating to Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn is insulting

Over the last few months, several players have defended LA Lakers guard Russell Westbrook from what they deemed unwarranted criticism. The former MVP had his worst season in over a decade. The NBA 2K23 ratings were released this week, and Westbrook received a low rating., On “The Odd Couple” podcast, Rob Parker pushed back on the developers’ lack of respect for the nine-time All-Star:

“Last season hurt Westbrook as far as how people look at him. This is clearly an example. I think that this is a ridiculous rating, but this is how bad people look at Westbrook and think like he’s a nobody, he’s a nothing. It’s insulting! But, that’s how ugly his season looked to a lot of people.”

Parker was a vocal critic of Westbrook's play and behavior last season. Parker still sees the rating as too low, bordering on disrespect.

NBA2K revealed the ratings of all NBA players, including team-by-team filtering of the data. LeBron James' 96 overall rating is the Lakers' highest. He was followed by Anthony Davis with 90.

Meanwhile, Westbrook, who team governor Jeanie Buss called the Lakers’ most consistent player last season, only had 78. He has the same rating as Kendrick Nunn, who sat out the entire season due to injury.

Chris Broussard, the co-host of the podcast, doubled down on Rob Parker’s comments:

“I’m not gonna sit here and act like Russell Westbrook had a good season. But this is the season that everybody is destroying Russell Westbrook. 18 PPG, 7 RPG and 7 APG and shot 44% from the field. That was the fifth highest field-goal percentage in his 14 seasons as an NBA player.

“I’m not saying he played great, but Patrick Beverley would die for those numbers. Kendrick Nunn being equal to Russ is more egregious. … This is incredible that they would give Russell Westbrook this low a number.”

So far, Westbrook has not commented on the rating.

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The LA Lakers hope Russell Westbrook will not repeat last season's performance

In his fiery exit interview, Westbrook revealed that he faced an uphill battle in his first season with the LA Lakers. He said he didn’t have former coach Frank Vogel’s confidence and criticized LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

“Russ” practically called AD and James liars for consistently saying they want “Russ to be Russ."

New coach Darvin Ham has repeatedly voiced his excitement to coach the future Hall of Famer next season. He firmly believes that discounting Westbrook is a mistake that he will not be committing in his first head-coaching job.

How he implements his plans for Russell Westbrook could make or break the LA Lakers next season.