Russell Westbrook’s resurgence as the Los Angeles Lakers sixth man may mean finishing his season alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While there have been reports of the 34-year-old not in LA’s trade plans, one of the NBA analysts believes the front office must consider shipping Westbrook, especially after Anthony Davis’ foot injury that’s sidelined him for a month.
In his opinion feature for Silver Screen And Roll, analyst Anthony Irwin believes Rob Pelinka must look at trading the point guard and not mistake his “improvement for production”.
Davis and LeBron James, at their best, widen margins for error on either side of the ball. With Davis now gone for an unknown length of time and James starting to look more like himself but still clearly working to recover from a couple early season nagging injuries, the Lakers can’t afford to be as bad on the margins as they’ve been. When they traded for him, Westbrook was supposed to help with those margins, at least in theory, but it clearly hasn’t played out that way.
And look, if Davis is indeed out for a longer stretch than this initial month (as honestly seems to be the case based on how everyone involved has handled the information), then there probably is no point in trying to save this season. The Lakers are only ever going to go as far as James and Davis will take them and with one out at least a month, may as well start positioning yourself for next year and beyond.
He further added:
The other part of this is Westbrook’s play, itself. He has never shot this poorly from the floor since his rookie season. He’s still one of the league’s worst three-point shooters. He’s turning the ball over more than any other player per 48 minutes. On top of all that he’s still an inconsistent defender.
While there have been significant improvements by Westbrook in both aspects of the game, Irwin suggests it’s still not enough with Davis out of action.
Will The Lakers Trade Russell Westbrook?
This is perhaps one of the top five questions by every fan who watches the NBA, and only the Lakers front office has an answer. For starters, trading Westbrook has always been one of the primary options the think-tank has considered.
Earlier, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha outlined LA’s three-pronged approach to the trade window and the first of it was trading the explosive guard with two of their future picks. However, that might have been reconsidered given his improved form as the sixth man. At the time of writing, he averages 14.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 7.6 assists.
Then there’s the chatter about sending him to Chicago in exchange for either Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. Westbrook has been linked with at least two teams since the offseason, and that’s grown sharply since he sparked form.
For now, Westbrook’s future looks like he might finish the season as a Laker, but it’s the NBA, and you never really know.
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