The Los Angeles Lakers will need to figure out a lot of things this off-season. Over half the roster is currently empty with last year’s veteran minimums expiring. These open the door for the likes of Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, and others to leave this off-season.
The one player who seems to be linked to leaving but will be staying pat is Russell Westbrook. Westbrook’s massive $47 million contract has anchored the Lakers down and it will be expiring at the end of the season. The Lakers can’t afford to offload more picks to get rid of Russ who will be a free agent at the end of the season anyway.
The Lakers will look to make it work under a new system this year. Darvin Ham is already plotting how to make this team work the best together and has confirmed that Westbrook is a part of his plans and he expects him to stay with the team through the 2022-23 season.
Darvin Ham on Russ, with Russ watching. pic.twitter.com/Y6iYykvecp
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) June 6, 2022
“Absolutely,” when asked about if Westbrook will stay on the team.
“Russ is one of the best players our league has ever seen and still has a ton left in that tank. I don’t know why people tend to try to write him off. I’m going to approach him like I do every player I’ve ever encountered. We’re going to talk about our running habits with the ball, without the ball. And, again, the team, the rhythm of the team and trying to establish a rhythm with LeBron, Russ and AD and, again, share the load defensively and offensively.”
Westbrook coming back to the team will be the best course of action for the Lakers, who will have to part with assets to get Russ’s contract off the team. Maybe if it continues to not work and the Lakers need to make a move do we see Brodie move to a different team, but no pre-season movement should be expected.
