As a rapidly devalued commodity whose pogo-stick athleticism was bound to decline as he entered mid-30s, teams have played hot potato with Westbrook for three years.
Unsurprisingly, it turns out that letting Westbrook operate against backups and in lineups without James.
Those lineups have outscored teams by 35 points this season.
Westbrook is the one who gets to operate in the pick-and-rolls with Davis.
He’s the one who dominates the rock and initiates the offense.
While healthy and focused on basketball instead of his Amazon Prime account, Irving is the vastly superior point guard.