The Lakers never found a way for Russell Westbrook and LeBron James to succesfully coexist during their brief stint together in Los Angeles after Westbrook's trade in the summer of 2021. A new book from Yaron Weitzman recently revealed new details on how and when the pair's relationship started to go south, with Westbrook reportedly growing weary of the four-time NBA champ's "fake" behavior.

In an excerpt from Weitzman's book, A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers, published at The Ringer, Westbrook is coming off a disappointing season in 2021-22 but the Lakers are still trying to make things work between him and James. However, Weitzman shares a few anecdotes that paint a concerning picture of Westbrook's and James's fractured relationship, one that may have hit the tipping point after a visit by actor Will Smith.

In the excerpt, Westbrook voices his displeasure after seeing James's "fake" behavior when Smith visited the Lakers as part of a special team lecture session. Before Smith arrived for the scheduled event, LeBron and Anthony Davis oddly left the room. Westbrook was told by teammate Patrick Beverley that James and Davis "can do whatever the f--- they want," but that the rest of the team had to more or less stay in line.

James and Davis eventually came back into the room to greet Smith, and James in particular seemed to be acting differently with the movie star in his presence.

Here's a bit of Weitzman's excerpt below:

Then [Smith] opened the floor for questions. LeBron was first. He had a question, he said. Smith answered. Then LeBron had another question. And another after that and another after that and another after that. On and on he went, stretching what was supposed to be a 30-minute session into nearly an hour.

“The same guy who was trying to leave is now quoting back movie lines and going through the guy’s whole life story,” one attendee recalled thinking. Seated in the third row, picking at a bowl of fruit, Westbrook watched in disbelief, shaking his head and rolling his eyes every time LeBron spoke.

I hate that fake shit, Westbrook said to a teammate afterward, as the Lakers gathered for a team photo. I just can’t do it.

A team photo from the event shows Westbrook along with the rest of the Lakers posing with Smith, and Westbrook appears to look a tad annoyed.

Westbrook's irritations with James didn't end there, as Weitzman wrote. Westbrook seemed to view the Lakers star as inauthentic given multiple instances of James being caught in a lie: James claimed The Godfather was his favorite movie but couldn't remember any lines when asked about it in a presser. James once brought The Autobiography of Malcolm X into a media session but struggled to name his biggest takeaway. And of course, there's James's now-infamous clip of predicting Kobe's 81-point game.

Most NBA pundits and fans alike agreed Westbrook was a bad fit in the Lakers after the roughly year-and-a-half experiment, and L.A.'s once-lofty dreams of building the next Big 3 with Westbrook, James and Davis ultimately fizzled out with a whimper.

Weitzman's excerpt is nonetheless a startling account of dysfunction within the Lakers' locker room during Westbrook's short-lived stint on the West Coast, as well as perhaps a cautionary tale of trying to pair big stars with James on the court. We'll see how the James-Doncic partnership plays out in the coming years.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Russell Westbrook Calls LeBron James ‘Fake’ in New Book Excerpt About Lakers Fallout.