Los Angeles Lakers Continue To Play Hardball In Russell Westbrook Trade Talks

The Los Angeles Lakers foolishly continue to remain bullish in trade talks surrounding Russell Westbrook.

As the Lakers look at multiple avenues in trying to get rid of their inefficient superstar, there are opportunities available — just none in which in the Lakers are willing to part with a second first-round draft pick.

After initial discussions with the Brooklyn Nets surrounding Kyrie Irving broke down — once again revolved around the idea of the Lakers surrendering a second first-round pick — a second major trade involving Los Angeles has broken down. The Lakers had engaged with the Indiana Pacers regarding a trade for young big man Myles Turner and scorer Buddy Hield. However, those talks are now dead, due to general manager Rob Pelinka’s refusal to include a second first-round pick (2027 and 2029).

Both of the aforementioned trades would have enabled the Lakers to trade Westbrook and his $47.1 million contract for the upcoming season, an absolute necessity if Los Angeles is to return to contention again.

However, Pelinka remains unnecessarily bullish in including an extra first-rounder in trade talks. Because of this, the Lakers will likely enter the season with Westbrook on the roster.

It’s no secret that the Lakers were absolutely terrible with Westbrook in the fold last season. Not only was he a bad fit, he ranked as one of the least-efficient players in all of the NBA. Furthermore, the Lakers went 31-47 in games in which Westbrook played in.

This sudden, stubborn refusal of including draft capital to get rid of the worst contract for the upcoming season is foolish — especially for an organization that has always built its teams through free agency and trades.

LeBron James will enter the last year of his deal with the Lakers and could conceivably sign elsewhere if the Lakers go through their third non-playoff campaign in the past five seasons. For perspective, James had only missed the playoffs twice (the first two seasons of his career) prior to joining the Lakers in 2018. Do you really think he’ll come back if the Lakers go through another 33-49 record next season?

As Bob Kravitz of The Athletic notes, it’s hard to understand why the Lakers wouldn’t agree to concede a second first-round pick in a deal with the Pacers considering James is entering the final years of his career.

“The Pacers believe they should get a first for taking Westbrook’s contract off the Lakers’ hands, and another first for Turner and Hield,” says Kravitz. “It’s a little hard to understand why Lakers GM Rob Pelinka wouldn’t do the deal; he’s got LeBron coming up on the last years of his prime, and he’s getting two solid pieces in return.”

When looking at the Lakers’ last title team — in 2020 — the only major contributors on that roster who began their careers in Los Angeles were Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso. In Kuzma’s case, he was originally selected by the Nets with the 27th overall pick and traded to the Lakers in the D’Angelo Russell trade. Meanwhile, Caruso was an undrafted free agent.

The Lakers seem adamant on building through the draft and remaining focused on the future, even though these picks won’t be available until the end of the decade. Los Angeles should be focused on winning a championship now with a duo (James and Anthony Davis) just two years removed from winning a title together.

Despite being the most decorated franchise in NBA history, the Lakers have been absolutely inept over the past decade. Outside of the season in which they won a title in 2020, the Lakers haven’t won a playoff series since the 2011-12 season. Outside of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, they’ve missed the playoffs in every year since the 2013-14 season.

Since Jeanie Buss took over the Lakers in 2013, the franchise has gone from being the most dominant in the NBA — five championships and seven finals appearances from 2000 until 2013 — to becoming one of the biggest laughing stocks in the league.

The Lakers have never won through the draft and they won’t start winning through that avenue anytime soon.

During the beginning of the Lakers’ dark years — 2013 until LeBron’s arrival in 2018 — the franchise failed to attract a single superstar through free agency. Assuming Los Angeles continues to flounder heading into next season with Westbrook, there’s no guarantee the Lakers will attract another superstar duo — or even one superstar — following James’ departure.

The Lakers have the opportunity to move Westbrook before the 2022-23 season starts. It would be in the best interest of the franchise to do so as soon as possible — even if that means giving up an extra first-round pick by the end of the decade.