Los Angeles Lakers Need To Find Way Out Of Russell Westbrook Mess — Even If That Means Sitting Him

The Los Angeles Lakers inched one step closer in moving out of the Russell Westbrook era with their latest move.

Following the acquisition of point guard Patrick Beverley in a three-player trade with the Utah Jazz involving Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson, the Lakers found their replacement for Westbrook.

While the Lakers have said all of the right things pertaining to Westbrook’s future with the club — LeBron James actually tweeted out that he can’t wait for Westbrook to “go off” this season following the Beverley trade — we all know this can only end with Westbrook’s departure.

According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, it’s progressed to the point where the Lakers could resort to sitting Westbrook — the way the Houston Rockets did with John Wall during the 2021-22 season — if they can’t find a trade partner.

“Beverley’s arrival makes it more likely that Westbrook will be off the active roster by the start of training camp, either through a trade or the team sending him home a la the Rockets with John Wall last season, according to a source close to the situation.,” said Buha.

This potential move could be seen one of two ways. Either the Lakers are legitimately considering the idea of sitting Westbrook because it’s a matter of addition by subtraction, or they’re sitting Westbrook as a way of posturing to convince teams they’re not desperate to move the veteran point guard.

Either way, the Lakers are better off without Westbrook than with him included in the lineup. Los Angeles was 11-10 with the big trio together. In other words, they would have been the ninth-best team in the West with that type of winning percentage.

As Stephen Oh of Sportsline projects, the Lakers would be significantly better without Westbrook in the lineup compared to with him. In fact, Los Angeles has a 76.1% chance of making the postseason without Westbrook compared to a 66.1% chance of making it with the oft-criticized point guard in the lineup.

With the idea of trading for the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving off of the table, the Lakers’ most appealing option is pulling off a trade for the Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. However, those trade talks have died down due to the Lakers’ refusal to tack on a first-round draft pick.

As noted by Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, the Lakers might be willing to include one first-round draft pick, but they may not be willing to include two first-round picks (2027 and 2029) in order to unload Westbrook to the Pacers.

“Per multiple external sources, Indiana isn’t eager to part with its veteran players without significant compensation,” said Pincus. “The Lakers might be willing to give up a first first-rounder in a Westbrook swap, but two may be too much for a deal.”

With LeBron James inking a new contract extension — he holds a $50.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season — the Lakers should be doing everything within their power to contend and win another title during the next two or three years. The only way the Lakers have any chance of contending this season is by not including Westbrook in their plans.

The acquisition of Westbrook will go down in Lakers history as the worst trade the franchise has ever made. Not only did the super team trio of Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis underwhelm, the team wasn’t even good enough to even make it into the play-in tournament as one of the Western Conference’s 10 best teams. This is less than two years removed from winning the championship with a nucleus of James and Davis surrounded by defensive-first role players.

We all know the chemistry is not there with Westbrook in the fold. Even with new head coach Darvin Ham in the equation, Westbrook won’t suddenly mesh better with Davis and James, even if all three are healthy for an extended period of time.

The more appealing scenario sees the Lakers eventually budge and pull off a deal for Turner and Hield. Turner has an expiring deal ($18 million) and has proven to be a steady presence at center, averaging 12.9 points and 2.8 blocks per game last season. Meanwhile, Hield’s contract is through the 2023-24 season and averages anywhere from $18.6-to-$23.3 million (depending on incentives).

With Hield and Turner in the equation, the Lakers actually have a formidable starting five capable of at least competing with the best teams in the Western Conference. It would also allow the Lakers to move Thomas Bryant and Austin Reaves to the bench, roles they’re better suited for.

The Lakers can continue to play hardball with their lack of reluctance in surrendering an extra first-round draft pick. But Los Angeles should be focused on winning now while they have one of the two greatest players to play the game, rather than being concerned with draft capital at the end of the decade.

If Los Angeles finally gets back to its winning ways — something they haven’t truly experienced in over a decade — the first-round picks won’t even be a concern, as they’d be later in the round.

There’s only one way of doing that and that’s ensuring Westbrook isn’t in the Lakers’ plans for the 2022-23 season.