Westbrook was never one of my favorite players during most of his prime, but seeing how Westbrook has handled his last few years helped me gain a lot of respect for him.
Sure he never was the lead guy on a championship team, but his competitiveness is amazing. He played his best through all the Lakers drama. Westbrook also put up 37 in a playoff game in the most recent playoffs. I’m quite a huge fan of this late-career Westbrook.
Kobe - when I first started following the NBA as a kid, Kobe was the player I liked to root against. Near the end of his career I had nothing but love for him.
Kyrie Irving. Went from hate to neutral after listening to a long twitch stream from him where he explains all that was going on in his life from the Cavs trade to the end of his time at Boston.
tldr He felt snubbed from NBA awards while on the Cavs despite putting up his best numbers. He suffered depression after a close family member died. He had a months long, incapacitating infection. He had a big Celtics trade planned that fell through because of reasons behind the scenes, which is why he initially said he was committed to Boston and then left.
I can’t forgive him for the anti-vax, anti-galileo, and NOI shit. But I can at least sympathize with all the criticism he’s received for the things outside of his control.