Despite having one of the best on-paper rosters in the league, the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to win games quite often this season. In fact, out of their six fixtures, they have managed to win just one game, which was against the tanking Houston Rockets.
Many sports pundits have pitched in about what might be the problem for the Lakers, and most have reached one conclusion: Russell Westbrook. While Russ might be getting his triple-doubles, he is still struggling to play and shoot well at a consistent level. Additionally, his habit of turning the ball over doesn’t help his case either.
NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins recently said that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade Westbrook. But the question arises, which team might even be interested in taking Brodie? The biggest issue for most teams is his hefty contract that will take up a lot of space in the cap.
Well, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype proposed a trade idea for the former MVP, which could send him to the Boston Celtics.
Via HoopsHype:
“The Boston Celtics are a team that could use a more traditional point guard, and Westbrook theoretically could be a decent fit there since their best lineup would have three good shooters surrounding him. A package of Al Horford ($27 million), Josh Richardson ($11.6 million), and Juancho Hernangomez ($7 million) combine for nearly identical salaries for Westbrook, which is important for both teams due to their current luxury tax situations.
However, the Celtics seem to be positioning themselves for a trade for a younger All-Star down the line. All three of those players mentioned earlier make a diverse amount of mid-sized salaries that are valuable for salary matching combinations. If they trade all of them for Westbrook, they’re taking in $44 million this year, and $47 million next year that is way harder to move than those several smaller salaries.
Also, the Celtics are already projected to be over the luxury tax next season but can get under if they waive the non-guaranteed contracts of Horford ($14.5 million guaranteed) and Hernangomez. Having Westbrook’s $47 million on their books next year instead would complicate their luxury tax issues.”
If the Celtics somehow agree to this proposal, this might solve one issue for the Lakers. Because either way, they need to figure out a way to provide help to LeBron James, who has been almost single-handedly trying to keep the team in contention.
As things stand right now, it seems quite plausible that Westbrook might be wearing a different jersey before the end of the season, unless he finds a way to rectify the flaws in his game.
