SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Russell Westbrook doesn’t shy from confrontation. He made that clear again after the Kings’ loss Thursday night, this time in the media room.

“What I don’t like,” Westbrook said near the top of a roughly 6-minute media availability, “and I’ve been around the league a long time, and I’ve been around a lot of different organizations, media, beat writers — and we have a lot of young guys on this team, a lot of guys that don’t know what’s happening, or what’s around.”

What Westbrook doesn’t like: “(The media’s) 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 a bunch of stuff that’s not accurate. And that’s my problem.”

Westbrook, the 2016-17 NBA MVP, was asked to elaborate with specific statements he thought were inaccurate. But he didn’t go further than talking about the media’s “broad statements” that “don’t have context” because, he said, media members don’t participate in team practices or film sessions.

Athletes are well within their rights to tell reporters they don’t agree with things they say or write, which Westbrook has done throughout his sure-to-be Hall of Fame career. And the former league MVP never went out of bounds by making personal attacks on media members during his viral postgame press conference. His remarks were pointed, and at times he talked over reporters, but it amounted to nothing more than a contentious exchange.

Westbrook’s criticism comes amid a historically bad Kings season that fans and players have had to suffer through since October — and perhaps back to December 2024 when the organization decided to fire head coach Mike Brown. A little less than 15 months later, the King have the worst record in the NBA at 14-50 and a roster in need of repair.

So maybe Westbrook airing frustrations can breathe some life into a lifeless Kings season and perhaps make them a more enjoyable team to watch over the remaining 18 games because of it. Or maybe nothing will change.

Thursday’s press conference began with a question from The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson about what can be gained and what the points of focus are over the final 18 games of the season.

After briefly answering (“You know, go out compete. This is a game. You’re a professional, you go out and play. And that’s all you can do”), Westbrook went into reporter mode and asked media members what they thought. He specifically singled out Matt George, a former ABC10 sports anchor and current Sactown Sports radio personality, looking at George and saying his statements were “particularly for you.”

“You guys are making false comments about our team and what we’re doing here, and I don’t appreciate that,” Westbrook said. “So my ask is that you respect what we do, and we respect what you do.”

Championship-or-bust sentiment?

Westbrook’s arguments then took something of a turn.

“I feel like you guys expect us (to) win the championship,” Westbrook said. “The conversation with you guys is if we don’t win the championship, that’s a bust or something. That’s not the case.”

It was a surprising statement, and Westbrook again didn’t get into specific examples. But these are the Kings, who have made the playoffs just once in the past 20 seasons. Sacramento had the ninth-lowest betting odds to win the championship coming into the season at 500-1, per some oddsmakers.

The vast majority of criticism aimed at the team has been on ownership, not players. And particularly not the effort of Westbrook, whom some have said is playing too much and too well, preventing the team’s young players from developing while the team should prioritize losing for positioning in the NBA draft lottery. Thursday’s loss, for what it’s worth, came to a New Orleans Pelicans team that is third-last in the Western Conference standings and that also beat the Kings in their last matchup in February.

Perhaps the most logical case Westbrook could have made would have been calling out those who think the Kings are deliberately tanking. Because if anyone is clearly not trying to lose games on purpose, it’s the generationally competitive Westbrook.

If the Kings are tanking, it’s coming in the form of having players get surgery to repair injuries instead of playing through them. Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and newcomer DeAndre Hunter are all out for the season following procedures. Keegan Murray is sidelined with an ankle injury and set to be re-evaluated later this month.

Finishing with the worst record in the NBA would give the Kings a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick in a loaded draft. Finding star-level talent through the draft is clearly their best way to get back to competitiveness. The team with the worst record can’t pick lower than fifth under the current draft lottery structure.

The team’s expectations coming into the season were to field a lineup that included two future Hall of Famers in Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan, an elite offensive talent in LaVine, a former All-Star and All-NBA center in Sabonis, and a budding two-way wing in Murray.

On paper, that’s a competitive team, evident by finishing 27-25 after coach Doug Christie took over for Brown following his firing last season. Injuries, the Dennis Schroder acquisition not working out and the team struggling to play well with any consistency under Christie are all reasons the season has gone so poorly.

The Kings have the worst record in the NBA. They rank 29th in net rating, 27th in offense, 28th in defense, dead last in 3-point shooting percentage and makes — and haven’t won a game on their home court since Jan. 16, seven weeks ago and counting. All of which is fair criticize. Westbrook and his teammates are highly paid professionals. To a man, they have all been realistic about what this season is.

Suffice to say, Westbrook will be approached by media members wanting more context and clarity. Him saying he doesn’t appreciate what the media has said will draw attention over the final 18 games of the season.

Maybe it will strengthen the lines of communication between players and reporters, which would benefit the fans with more in-depth coverage of the team. Or maybe the story will have a short life cycle like the November press conference from Christie when he told the “the haters” and “the fakers” to “keep the same energy.”

The Kings were 3-8, a .272 winning percentage, when Christie said that. They’ve gone 11-42 (.262) since then.

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