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After taking a shot at Russell Westbrook by using him as the butt of a joke, San Antonio Spurs rookie Jeremy Sochan took to Twitter to say he was “not intending on being disrespectful” to the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
In a social media video, Sochan and fellow Spurs rookie Malaki Branham participated in a word association game while at this month’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Branham gave the hint, “Russell Westbrook get ’em a lot”, with the hope Sochan would guess “triple-double” in response.
However, Sochan immediately said “bricks”.
The 19-year-old eventually correctly guessed “triple-double” and apologised for the insult on Twitter.
“It’s banter, I was not intending on being disrespectful,” he said. “Heat of the moment, I was playing a game baby.”
Sochan, the ninth overall pick of this year’s draft, later went on to say Westbrook has “been one idol since I started watching the NBA and my dog is called Russell”.
While Westbrook is the NBA all-time leader in triple-doubles with 194, the 2016-17 league MVP struggled mightily with his shot from 3-point range last season, shooting 29.8 per cent from beyond the arc.
Among the 142 players with at least 250 3-point attempts in 2021-22, Westbrook had the fourth-worst shooting percentage.
