Starting just months after his arrival in Los Angeles, the Russell Westbrook trade rumors have been a fact of life for the Lakers. As the team’s biggest question mark, Russ has been the topic of conversation in the NBA community for a while now.
But even after making such a big fuss about Westbrook’s poor fit with the team, the Lakers have apparently decided not to trade him after all. In a report by Lakers beat writer Jovan Buha, he describes Westbrook’s trade status as ‘off the table.’
“From my understanding, I think a Russ trade is probably off the table at this point,” Buha said. “I think the one exception would be – in most scenarios, they would have to attach two picks. I think at this point, the only way they would do that, trade him, would be one pick or no picks and at this point that’s just not out there.”
Spoke to @jovanbuha yesterday about a bunch yesterday but this stood out:
"Based on my understanding, I think a Russ trade is probably off the table at this point…"
Full ep: https://t.co/v8VB4gyh5J pic.twitter.com/yqYfCnf7DX
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) December 22, 2022
This season, Westbrook is having a pretty solid campaign with averages of 14.5 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game. And after being reluctant to come off the bench last season, he has humbly accepted the role this season and it has made a massive difference for both his own performance and the play of the entire team.
Should The Lakers Trade Russell Westbrook?
At this point, it seems like Lakers fans are split on what to do with Russ. On one hand, he becomes a free agent next year and can leave the team for nothing in return. On the other hand, his play is a big reason the Lakers are still alive after a rough start to this season.
But now, after the injury to Anthony Davis, there is some pressure to make a big-time move before it’s too late.
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 (via Silver Screen And Roll).
Only time will tell how this season plays out for L.A., but what they decide to do with Russ will have implications that are felt beyond this season.
In truth, these next few months could determine the trajectory of the Lakers for the rest of the James/Davis era, which doesn’t look to be ending on a high note so far.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
