It was an open secret for months that the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to trade Russell Westbrook. Landing him in 2021 via trade from the Washington Wizards had turned out to be a terrible move as both he and the franchise struggled massively last season.
His numbers dropped across the board and while that had something to do with playing a lesser role, he wasn’t efficient either as he struggled to fit in. The Lakers in the process stumbled to a 33-49 record and a lot of the blame for it was placed on his shoulders.
NBA Writer Speculates Why The Lakers Didn’t Trade Russell Westbrook
It seemed like a foregone conclusion at one point that he would be traded at some point but he is somehow still on the roster as they approach training camp. It looks quite likely now that Russ will stay with the Lakers as they have failed to find a deal they like, but Sam Quinn from CBS speculates there might be more to it. Quinn points out that the team might be trying to save some money in the 2023-24 season by keeping Westbrook.
via CBS:
“The Lakers have paid the tax over the past two seasons. Barring something drastic, they’ll pay it again this season. So why would ducking it for the 2023-24 season matter? The repeater penalty. When a team has paid the tax in three of the previous four seasons, it is subject to an extremely punitive repeater penalty. Essentially, it adds one dollar for every dollar you spend above the tax line on top of what your tax bill already would have been.”
Quinn points out how if the Lakers had acquired Buddy Hield and Myles Turner, then they both would be significant cap hits moving forward as opposed to Westbrook who will be off their books in 2023. Hield is in the midst of a 4-year, $94 million deal while Turner would have to be signed to an extension as he is an unrestricted free agent next summer. These two, along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, would eat up a significant portion of their cap space, which means they would end up in the repeater tax zone after filling out the rest of the roster.
A similar situation would arise with the other big name that has been brought up in Bojan Bogdanovic, who is a free agent next summer. If the Lakers were to acquire him, then they would have to pay him, or else they would risk losing him for nothing in 2023. Quinn points out how the Lakers are not an organization like the Warriors or Clippers who are breaking payroll records, and that they are averse to spending a lot of money. So, it would appear that the Lakers might have some other reasons to keep Westbrook but, for his part, he is unaffected by whether the team wants him or not. He is going to go out there and play to the best of his abilities as he looks to have a bounce-back season.
