Russell Westbrook had a heated exchange with reporters on Thursday night that lasted over five minutes.
The tense scene all unfolded just minutes after the Sacramento guard sat down at a podium to talk with media members about the Kings’ 133-123 loss to the Pelicans at Golden 1 Center.
Westbrook was asked for his take on the defeat and how his team will handle the last remaining games on its schedule, but he quickly turned the table on the journalists.
“What ya’ll think, though?” he said, clearly annoyed. “‘Cause ya’ll got a lot of answers and ya’ll always be talking.”
When no one immediately spoke up, he continued asking questions.
“That’s very interesting,” he said. “Nobody got, ya’ll don’t got no — you guys have a lot of opinions about how we do what we doing. What you got?”
Westbrook and a few of the journalists in the room engaged in back-and-forths, but most of the conversations fizzled quickly, which prompted the nine-time All-Star to dig in further.
“You guys are quiet today,” he said. “But you guys have a lot of comments when the game’s going on. After the game. What we’re doing. What we should be doing. How we should be doing it. I’m confused.”
Westbrook eventually revealed he was upset by some recent comments made by reporters that he claimed were inaccurate.
“As a leader of this team, it’s my job to speak up for the guys in the locker room,” he said. “Because of the comments you guys make, you’ve got guys thinking about a whole bunch of random things that have 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.
“My ask is that you respect what we do, and we’ll respect what you do.”
Westbrook and the Kings have lost three in a row and are now 14-50 on the season. They play next on Sunday, in a home matchup with the Bulls.