Karl-Anthony Towns offers blunt assessment of Russell Westbrook

“He definitely gets stats. He chases stats,” Towns said. “I think he’s a hell of a player, though. I don’t care what anyone says; do you know how hard it is to get a triple-double? And he plays hella hard. I just think that sometimes he plays too quick. He tries to do too much.”

While Towns definitely tried to sugar coat it, his take there is clear. Theoretically getting triple-doubles is hard and Westbrook does it regularly, so clearly he has some talent in that regard.

That being said – he plays sloppy and turns the ball over too much. And it hurts his team on a consistent basis, regardless of who that team is.

Westbrook is currently second in the NBA with 4.6 turnovers per game. It’s okay to have one weakness, and if that was his only one, so be it. But he also shoots 30 percent from beyond the arc.

Either that or he clogs up the middle, where LeBron James likes to operate and is more efficient – making him an odd fit for the Lakers altogether.

There is a reason L.A. has spoken to two teams about trading him away. Whether the front office will ultimately be able to pull it off or not remains to be seen.

This isn’t the first time Towns has refused to shy away from offering tough criticism to another player – albeit in a nice way. He did the same thing with Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and his vaccination stance.

Towns may seem mild-mannered, but more often than not – he keeps it real.