Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers was one of the biggest trades of the summer, and many were excited to see the former MVP join a championship-winning duo in LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While many people bemoaned the fit between LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, it seems as though there was a good reason for the Los Angeles Lakers to make that trade. Rob Pelinka has recently stated that the reason that the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook was that they wanted to lessen the offensive and ballhandling load for LeBron James.
https://twitter.com/hmfaigen/status/1473074758732247043
We made a big trade for Russell Westbrook to get another playmaker. We knew that as LeBron journeyed towards year 19 in the league and then year 20, we couldn’t rely on him as the sole engine for our team.
So we made that trade. Really wanted to dimensionalize the roster with a combination of versatility, guys that could shoot, and also defenders… We still haven’t had Trevor Ariza play, Kendrick Nunn hasn’t played yet… getting them healthy and back really will be critical in us being able to analyze how the puzzle fits together once we have a whole team.
There is no doubt that the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t had the best season thus far. They did miss LeBron James for a while due to injury, and Trevor Ariza and Kendrick Nunn are both out currently as mentioned. It is clear that there were factors preventing chemistry from developing, and Pelinka’s rationale when trading for Westbrook is understandable.
We’ll see if the Los Angeles Lakers can turn things around in the future. We’ve seen games where their big 3 have all had good performances, so the peak version of the Lakers theoretically has that happening on a regular basis. The Lakers have recently made a solid signing in Isaiah Thomas, so there are certainly some positives for the team. Hopefully, we see them go on a run in the near future.
