Names were thrown at Russell Westbrook during his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, making him the scapegoat for the team's woes.

They said he was like a black hole that sucked the fun out of the team. They said he was a vampire.

That is not the way Austin Reaves sees him, though.

For the third-year guard, Westbrook is one of the nicest teammates he's had in his young NBA career.

Reaves appeared at the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and shared that the 2016 MVP acted like a motivator and mentor to his teammates amid the team's struggles during the 2023 season.

"As a teammate, he was always empowering everybody to really be better or do better," Reaves said.

"Like you said he gets a bad rep, and I don't really understand why."

Good teammate, a better person

Reaves shared that Westbrook looked out for him even when they were no longer on the court.

This was when he was struck by Covid-19 and had to be isolated in Minnesota for a week. He said Brodie saw to it that he was doing well.

"He's one of the best teammates I've ever had," he explained. "As a person, you can't get much better. I got COVID (in) December of my rookie year in Minnesota. I was stuck in Minnesota for seven days so it was rough. But he reached out three or four times, asked if I need anything, offered to send me stuff, whatever I needed."