Getty Lakers guard Russell Westbrook leads the NBA in turnovers.
The Los Angeles Lakers tried to trade point guard Russell Westbrook at the trade deadline, but they couldn’t find a deal that made sense.
The Houston Rockets were interested in trading John Wall for Westbrook, but they wanted a future first-round pick from the Lakers and general manager Rob Pelinka wasn’t going to do that.
Westbrook has a player option worth $47,063,478 for next season. He will likely pick it up since he can’t make that type of money on the open market.
Since the one-time MVP will only have one year left on his deal after this season, he could be tradeable this summer and the former Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Memphis Grizzlies has an idea for the Lakers.
John Hollinger: Lakers Could Trade Westbrook to Thunder
The Athletic’s John Hollinger, who used to work for the Grizzlies’ front office, proposed a trade taking place this summer between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Los Angeles would send Westbrook and an unprotected first-round pick in 2027 to OKC for Derrick Favors and “another small contract.”
The trade would “generate a ginormous Laker trade exception.”
“One tantalizing possibility, for instance, would be to trade Derrick Favors and another small contract to the Lakers for Westbrook and an unprotected Laker first in 2027, a deal which would generate a ginormous Laker trade exception to bring in other talent via their newly available 2029 first,” Hollinger wrote. “They could also swallow Tobias Harris in one gulp (although Philly is out of picks to include) or Davis Bertans or some other desperately unwanted contract.”
Westbrook has been a bad fit with the Lakers. He leads the league in turnovers and has a plus-minus of -121. The NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles has also been benched twice by head coach Frank Vogel in critical moments.
The Lakers are in ninth place in the Western Conference. Even though LeBron James is putting up superstar numbers at 37 and in his 19th season, the purple and gold have been a below-average team due to Westbrook’s erratic play and their putrid defense. The Lakers are 26th in the NBA in defense, giving up 112.6 points per game.
Most fans are under the impression that the Lakers will try to move Westbrook in the summer. However, that may not be set in stone.
Lakers May Keep Westbrook Next Year
According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the Lakers may not be ready to give up on Westbrook after this season. The future Hall of Famer has a close relationship with LeBron and Anthony Davis, who urged Pelinka to trade for Westbrook last summer.
“But I think the Lakers are not ready to pull the ripcord on that Russell Westbrook experiment,” Shelburne said on an ESPN podcast, via RealGM. “I think they feel like the team, the coach, the coaching staff, everything has not done enough to say this isn’t going to work. Russell Westbrook is a future Hall of Famer. There are different ways of being used. And some of this is on Russ too. Russ can still change more too.
“But I think they feel they gave up so much to get him and he is a really talented player if used correctly. And he has not been used in any kind of way that’s he comfortable with, or has been used, or been good before.”
It will be fascinating to see how the Lakers play in the second half of the season. Hollinger thinks they should consider trading Westbrook in the summer to the Thunder. However, the UCLA product may be back in Los Angeles in 2022-23.