Justine Willard-Imagn Images
Former NBA MVP and current Sacramento Kings point guard Russell Westbrook lashed out at the media during his postgame press conference after the Sacramento Kings’ 133-123 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on March 5. Westbrook defended his team’s preparation and young roster, while also accusing the local media of uninformed criticism that distracts players without firsthand knowledge of practices or film sessions.
Clearly frustrated as a difficult season for the Sacramento Kings enters its final stretch, Russell Westbrook faced off with the media this week by challenging them to say the things they say about him and his team in their reports to his face.
With 19 games remaining in their season, the Kings sit dead-last in the NBA’s Western Conference with a league-worst record of 14-50.
Russell Westbrook challenged media members to say the things that they report about him to his face during a recent postgame press conference
“You guys have a lot of opinions about how we do what we’re doing. What you got? You make a lot of statements and broad statements that you have no context, so where do you get your context from? Are you in practice? Are you at our film session? Are you anywhere around the building?” Westbrook said.
“You guys’ job is to talk about the game, what’s happening in the game, not stir up a bunch of – I don’t want to cuss here because I don’t want to get fined – but stir up a bunch of stuff that, it’s not accurate and that’s my problem,” Westbrook said. “Being in the league awhile, I’ve been able to experience a lot of these times where people outside of our building, outside of the film session, outside of what we do daily, how much work we put in, that is not an easy job to do.”
“Y’all come in, y’all make your comments, and nobody say nothing. But I don’t have to sit back and say nothing. As a leader of this team, it’s my job to speak up for the guys in the locker room. We talk about it. They see it. I hear it. Because of the comments you guys make, you got guys thinking about a bunch of random things that has nothing to do with the game. You guys are making false comments about our team and what we’re doing here, and I don’t appreciate that. So my ask is that you respect what we do and we’ll respect what you do.”
Russell Westbrook had some things on his mind tonight, following the Kings 133-123 loss to the Pelicans, and he let the media hear it. pic.twitter.com/9oUT5YqkI8
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) March 6, 2026
This season, Westbrook’s first with the Kings, the future Hall of Fame point guard is averaging 15.3 points, 6.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.