In case you missed it, Jeremy Lamb accidentally forgot to give Russell Westbrook.
I'm still waiting for the news to break.
"NBA player Jeremy Lamb was found in the Oklahoma City Thunder facilities, folded up neatly and placed in a closet with the the towels the team hands out following practice. Team doctors are working to unfold Lamb, but fear that he may never play basketball again. No arrests have been made, but local officers have a suspect that they will not name at the moment. [...]"
Poor Lamb, man. We might not ever see him again simply because he didn't make a conscious effort to give Russ the respect he deserves. It's a simple thing, really. The Thunder were ballin' the hell out, Anthony Morrow extended the Thunder lead to 18 and the Magic call a time out. There were chest bumps, smiles all around, and handshakes from the guys off the bench.
Russ, on the way to his 10th triple double of his career, felt slighted by Lamb missing him on the handshake. Instead of ignoring the problem, he turned around violently, made Lamb shake his hand, then gave him the coldest death stare since Kobe had Mike Brown exiled from Los Angeles.
Let's break it down:
After giving Morrow a five, Lamb seemingly looks like he's about to dap Russ up. Nothing here looks like Russ isn't going to get the high five he deserves.
Instead, Lamb pulls his hand away and refuses to give Russ his props. Russ isn't exactly paying attention to Lamb, or anyone for that matter, but this probably doesn't matter to Russell.
Russ turns around violently, identifying who has snubbed him. Not only did Russ not get his props, Lamb is about to give that handshake to Dion Waiters. Mad disrespect.
Russ changes that immediately. He stops Lamb from giving Waiters his handshake, and looks straight into Lamb's eyes. Look at Lamb's body language. He's a puppy who got caught pooping in the corner for the fourth time this week. He knows he's done wrong and he knows he must be punished.
After rectifying the wrong done upon to him, Russ walks away, but gives one last glare at his next victim.
Will the Thunder miss Lamb? Probably. His per 36 numbers are up almost entirely across the board from last season. He filled in nicely as a starter for eight games and gave the team a slightly above average wing defender. He was shooting better from three and getting to the free throw line more often, but none of this matter to a Russell Westbrook who has been slighted. Let this be a lesson to the rest of the team, shake the man's hand before that man's hands shake you.
