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The NBA as a whole has turned into a reactionary league in that teams like the Los Angeles Lakers make short-sighted moves in order to catch up or keep up with other franchises. This was evident with the Russell Westbrook trade, where a panicking Lakers team made an ill-advised move that was panned almost universally.
Bleacher Report recently wrote a piece that re-graded the 10 biggest NBA trades of the last five years, awarding the Lakers an “F” for their part in the Westbrook debacle. They didn’t sugarcoat it at all.
“What looked like a terrible fit at the time was made even worse by the fact that Westbrook still had two years and $91 million remaining on his contract. His first-year salary ($44.2 million) represented 39.3 percent of the salary cap, or the same as a player making $55.3 million today.
At no point in the process did this have a chance of being a good trade for the Lakers, and it will forever go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history.”
Enter Westbrook, For Better or For Worse
On August 6, 2021, a five-team trade went down that saw Westbrook and a pair of second-round draft picks (2024, 2028) head to the Lakers, with the Washington Wizards receiving Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the No. 22 pick in the 2021 draft (Isaiah Jackson).
Westbrook was coming off of a season in which he averaged 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 11.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game, earning him 11th in the NBA’s MVP voting. His athletic gifts had started to wane, as he wasn’t able to get to the rim with the reckless abandon that he previously had, setting a career-low with just 19.4% of his shooting attempts coming from inside three feet.
At just 19-33 through 52 games, it looked as though the Wizards were cooked, but Westbrook and Bradley Beal found another gear, going 15-4 the rest of the way, sneaking into the NBA playoffs, where the Philadelphia 76ers would dispatch of them in five games.
A key part of this trade isn’t so much who the Lakers brought in, as who they sent out.
They Had What They Needed
Looking back at the team the Lakers had before Westbrook came in is fascinating. Traditionally, teams have rightfully looked at LeBron as the playmaker and did their best to surround him with quality 3-point shooters, keeping the floor spread.
The 2020-21 Lakers had Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope, Dennis Schroder and Alex Caruso as role players. That’s two over-40% 3-point shooters (Calwell-Pope, Caruso), a gritty playmaker (Schroder) and a serviceable, young offensive-minded player (Kuzma).
At the start of the 2021-22 season and Westbrook’s Lakers debut, all of those players were gone. Instead, the Lakers trotted out Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson, and a before-they-knew-what-they-had Malik Monk and Austin Reaves.
Westbrook’s season as an individual wasn’t a total loss, as he was by far the healthiest Laker, starting 78 games and playing 34.3 minutes per contest. He averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists, though his 29.8% 3-point success rate left a lot to be desired.
Injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis caused the Lakers to use 41 — FORTY-ONE — different starting lineup combinations during the season, with no single starting lineup being used more than seven times. For reference, the 2023-24 Lakers only used 19.
Worst trade in NBA history? I don’t think so. A harsh procession of untimely injuries, ill-fitting teammates and a culture of win-now that saw the Lakers give up on good players too soon? That’s more like it.
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