Dan Beyer: “Are you going to miss Russell Westbrook if he ends up leaving?”
Berry Tramel: “I’m not going to miss the non-interactions with Russell Westbrook, I AM gonna miss two things about Westbrook: The wild entertainment. He’s the most entertaining athlete in American sports. The second thing is: I can’t get mad about Russell Westbrook for the way he treated me because he made me famous in NBA circles. NBA coaches know who I am and you can’t buy that type of publicity."
Dan Beyer: “Did you ever think about just NOT asking questions?”
Berry Tramel: “Yeah, but then he sort of wins and that’s why I did it. To just let him know I’m not going anywhere. Eventually he sort of broke at the end and realized it wasn’t good for him. He treats all the media the same, poorly, so I didn’t take it personally.”
Listen to Oklahoma City Thunder reporter Berry Tramel join The Doug Gottlieb Show (with Dan Beyer and Aaron Torres filling in) to talk about his infamous relationship with Russell Westbrook, as the sports columnist for the Oklahoman became notorious for being shut down by Westbrook during postgame press conferences.
Tramel became synonymous with Westbrook’s ‘Next Question’ responses, which became a multi-year standoff between the Thunder star and beat reporter.
Check out the audio below as Tramel explains why he'll always thank Westbrook for giving him the unexpected fame and that he’ll miss Westbrook’s entertaining demeanor if the triple-double machine is actually traded away.