After a miserable season in Los Angeles, Russell Westbrook could find himself headed East in the next few months.
According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, two Eastern Conference teams could make a run for the 9x All-Star this summer, which would send him to his fifth team in five years.
Teams such as Charlotte and Indiana, two that league sources say could be involved, could possibly move a package of players to the Lakers for Westbrook.
On the surface, these trades sound great. If the Pacers were going to move Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield for Westbrook and a pick or picks, the Lakers would get the a floor-spacer in Hield they wanted last summer and a two-way point guard in Brogdon.
But Hield’s been unreliable and never a serious part of a winner, and Brogdon hasn’t played more than 60 games since the 2018-19 season. The same goes in Charlotte, where there would undoubtedly be a steeper price to be paid for Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward. Hayward, like Brogdon, has battled injuries and has played more than 50 games just once in the last three years.
Westbrook, 33, has been a controversial figure in Los Angeles. As the main scapegoat for a Lakers team that finished 11th in the West, he endured tireless slander from all corners of the basketball world.
Internally, teams no longer see him as an impactful player.
“To other teams, Westbrook represented a one-year problem on the books as a way to erase long-term commitments to other players,” Woike reported. “Some scouts and executives around the league don’t view Westbrook as a useful player at this stage, especially with a nearly $50 million price tag.”
With an average of 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game on 44% shooting, Russ still has something left in the tank and he can be a valuable player in the right situation.
Based on what we saw this past season, that situation is not with the Purple and Gold.
Perhaps in Charlotte or Indiana, with the pressure gone, he can finally return to being the guy we all loved and appreciated in Oklahoma City.
