Getty Lakers' Rob Pelinka and Frank Vogel.
The Los Angeles Lakers stood pat at the trade deadline, keeping the 26-30 roster intact. It wasn’t a popular move since purple and gold fans wanted drastic changes.
The Lakers were unable to strike a deal, although they did try to shake up the roster. According to Bill Oram of The Athletic, Los Angeles had several potential trades fall through since rival teams were asking for unrealistic returns.
The Lakers discussed Khem Birch and Chris Boucher with the Toronto Raptors, as well as Cam Reddish with the New York Knicks. They also considered acquiring Dennis Schroder, their starting point guard from last season.
However, Schroder got traded to the Houston Rockets by the Boston Celtics.
Most Lakers fans wanted general manager Rob Pelinka to trade Russell Westbrook, the $44 million point guard who leads the NBA in turnovers and has a plus-minus of -123. Westbrook has been erratic and his lack of shooting skills has made life harder for LeBron James and Anthony Davis on offense.
With Westbrook struggling this season, there was only one reported team interested in trading for him. However, the Lakers declined the potential blockbuster trade.
Lakers Declined Rockets’ Offer for Westbrook
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the Lakers declined the Rockets’ offer of John Wall for Westbrook because Houston wanted a first-round pick to be thrown in. Wall hasn’t played this season and is making $44 million. He’s represented by Klutch Sports, the agency LeBron is with.
In the end, it appears the Lakers weren’t convinced Wall would be a significant upgrade over Westbrook and decided to keep the one-time MVP.
“We were aggressive in a lot of conversations trying to improve the team – we always want to put this team in the best position to win a championship,” Pelinka said on a conference call, via Lakers.com. “But ultimately we didn’t find a deal that had a net positive effect for the short term success of the team and the long term, and those are both things we consider.”
LeBron and Davis told Pelinka to trade for Westbrook last summer. The superstars were convinced the triple-double machine would help them win another championship. However, Westbrook has been awful in Los Angeles. He’s been benched twice by head coach Frank Vogel and booed at home by Lakers fans.
If LeBron wanted to move on from Westbrook for Wall, Pelinka would have likely made the trade. That’s at least what one credible insider is reporting.
Lakers Would Have Traded for Wall if LeBron Wanted Him
According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, if LeBron wanted Wall to replace Westbrook, the Lakers would have made the trade with the Rockets.
“Ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers’ disastrous loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, sources told B/R that L.A. was unlikely to trade Russell Westbrook at the deadline,” Pincus wrote. “The caveat: If LeBron James decides that fellow Klutch Sports client John Wall could be a better fit and is willing to push extremely hard for Westbrook’s exit, the Lakers might consider a deal with the Houston Rockets.”
Neither Westbrook nor Wall are good perimeter shooters. Both players have career effective field goal percentages of under 47.0%.
The Lakers clearly made a mistake trading for Westbrook, but they may have made a smart move by not moving him for Wall since the Kentucky product hasn’t played this season and would need a lot of time — time Los Angeles doesn’t have on their side — to create chemistry with LeBron and Davis.