Rockets open to trading John Wall for Russell Westbrook if incentivized

I wouldn’t say it was a majority of the public. Their o/u was 52.5 wins (worst handicap I’ve ever seen on season wins going into the season) and there was a lot of hand wringing about them “reloading.”

Even the smart people who cover hoops were more “I honestly think Hield would have been a better choice” rather than “this will be a disaster.”

Smart fans knew though.

 

Tankers thinking just let him not just play but START.

 

Which is to say, he isn't a good 3 point shooter, but he can make 10 footers while Russ shoots them with the accuracy of half court heaves.

 

People criticize Doc Rivers and Embiid for "trashing" Simmons in public and hurt his trade value. LeBron has been openly expressing his desire to get rid of Westbrook.

 

The difference is that Westbrook is one of the most detrimental players to his own team in the league. That has been the case for years now.

You get to bash what amounts to basketball cancer. You shouldn't do that to one of your best players who still has a fairly high trade value.

 

Wall can hit a free throw too

never seen a player miss shots as badly as Russ as consistently as he does…some of his bricks, it looks like he shot the ball with his eyes closed

 

Buddy Hield was not only a better fit, but they would be in a better position to make more moves with Pope's salary. Most people knew it was a bad idea to trade for Russ, but it has been even worse than expected.

 

How? How does he do that? He's the best in whatever it is that makes that appropriate.

 

Rumor: The Lakers wanted both Heild and Westbrook. Schroeder messed it up when he didn't agree to a sign and trade for Heild.

Makes sense and it explains why Schroeder was semi-blackballed.

 

When lebron retires, I hope the Lakers b garbage for the next 10-20 years.

All this wheeling and dealing. What real assets do they have left?

 

I certainly have no reasonable explanation as to why teams would want Russ on his contract, or really at all, but it just keeps on happening so I can't explain it, and make sense now... BUT...

Look at the fact that Ben Simmons is likely to be traded now after sitting for half a season. Look at the fact that the Lakers actually might give a pick to swap Russ for Wall after he sat for who knows how long. For whatever reason there's always the potential that if Russ is sidelined the rest of the season, and works out in Miami or whatever that over the Summer some team will talk themselves into him.

But the fact is... if the Rockets pull off this trade (still no guarantee mind you) a buyout is certainly the most likely possibility. I think he'll agree to be the 6th man on a contending team rather than just sit out the rest of the year. However it really doesn't hurt the Rockets either way if he wants to take an early Summer vaca, to send him away to go workout, and work on his game, and just see what happens this Summer. I mean you're going to eat the salary anyways, and with 2 way player contracts it's not like they are dying to open up a roster spot.

One fun idea... what if the Kyrie Irving situation becomes so toxic that this Summer the Nets decide to swap Irving for Russ and give up their 2026 2nd round pick which I think is the last pick they have to trade? Wouldn't it be hilarious if the Rockets just swapping that roster spot out for picks for sending a star nobody wants to Miami to workout on South Beach??

 

Their zip code, and the ugly purple and gold uniforms. For whatever reason, players always want to sign there. I don't get it, but look at Lebron. As an organization they showed absolutely no reason why they should be trusted to build a team around him if he signed as a free agent, but he did anyways.

That being said, yes I'd take a chance on their picks in the future any day of the week. I'd never give up a young superstar in a trade with the Lakers for their picks given the fact that they are always likely to field free agents to remain competitive, but I do know they rarely have the most strategically gifted front office and coaches its not a given that their picks won't be fairly decent. It's unlikely they'll ever be a bottom feeder truly tanking team though so it's always assumed that a Lakers pick is at best a 14 to 25 pick range no matter the year.

As far as what assets they have now, 2027 FRP, 3 Second round picks they can trade that are owed to them, and a 2025 FRP pick swap.

So not much but it's something. In 2025, it's not unrealistic that the swap could move the Rockets down 4 to 6 picks in the draft potentially depending on how good the Rockets get by then. You just never know.

 

yeah simply benching Westbrook 48 minutes per game would help immensely. Unfortunately that's not an option, trading him for Wall who might have something positive left in the tank is worth the gamble...it's not even a gamble...if Wall tore his achilles the first game out, they would be no worse than having Westbrook play on their team.

 

They would actually benefit because then they could utilize the injured player exception, save money, and claim a roster spot.

Only reason they'd hold onto Westbrook right now is if they are as crazy as I am thinking that someone dumba$$ owner this Summer will talk themselves into trading for him, and giving up an asset to do so. As I mentioned too, there's the Kyrie situation in Brooklyn. They could hold out hope that KD, and Lebron go ride a banana boat this Summer and talk themselves into convincing the Net's GM to do the swap.

 

"Inside locker room, Lakers players see and feel the same problems as everyone else and also want change: Sources

LeBron James finally gave in.

For months the Lakers star has been steadfast that his team’s woes could be pinned on injuries and inconsistent lineups, all while projecting confidence that a future existed for these Lakers in which they could still make a run at a championship.

Fifty-five games into the season, James acknowledged what anyone else watching this team can plainly see: That it’s not true.

Oh, he tried to dance around it. He invoked the search for consistent rotations. He talked about health. He pointed to the stability teams the league’s top teams have enjoyed while the Lakers have blindly fumbled for an identity.

But after nearly 12 minutes of questions on Tuesday night, James cracked and laid the facts bare.

He was asked what the Lakers 131-116 loss to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks told him about the state of the Lakers, just 16 months removed from a title of their own.

“It tells me we ain’t on their level,” James said. “I mean, I could have told you that before the game.”

Less than 48 hours before the trade deadline, James was echoing a sentiment that has spread throughout an increasingly dispirited Lakers organization.

Sources told The Athletic that inside the locker room, players see and feel the same problems as everyone else, perhaps never more clearly than after a non-competitive loss to the champs. They understand as well as anyone that the personnel on this joyless 26-29 team simply isn’t working.

It’s a harsh reality for a team that last summer cashed in virtually all of its assets to acquire former Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook and, in the name of winning the Lakers’ 18th NBA championship, assembled a team of past-their-prime role players. James made his feelings even more clear when he was asked if the Lakers still could reach the Bucks’ level.

“Do I think we can reach the level where Milwaukee is right now?” he repeated. “Um, no. Is that what you wanted to hear? No.”

James has been marvelous once again this season, defying conventional wisdom about what’s possible for a 37-year-old player. He scored 27 points against the Bucks and it could scarcely have mattered less.

Everything the Lakers did last summer, the overhaul of a contending roster, the addition of Westbrook, the strategy of a big three… It has all failed.

Earlier on Tuesday, head coach Frank Vogel, whose job has been closely scrutinized by Lakers decision-makers at key pressure points throughout the season, cautioned that he would not read too much into a single regular season game, but on an optimistic note added: “They are still the champs, so you do measure where you’re at as a team against that.”

Might want to rethink that.

Asked postgame about the comparison, Vogel chortled.

“It wasn’t good,” he said, adding, “Our energy as a group isn’t good right now.”

For the second straight game the Lakers started the night with an embarrassing defensive effort, giving up 78 points to the Bucks in the first half. Vogel, who utilized a new starting lineup for the 27th time this season, scrambled to make halftime adjustments. But where the Lakers were able to make a run and overcome a 21-point hole three nights earlier against the lowly Knicks, the Bucks are no such pushover.

The Lakers climbed within 10 points in the fourth quarter, prompting a done-for-the-night LeBron to leap to his feet and sprint into the game. It was another comeback staged without the aid of Westbrook, who watched the final 15 minutes of the game from the bench after a 4-for-11 shooting night in which he looked tentative, indecisive and overmatched.

The night ended with all members of the Lakers big three on the sideline and a playful Westbrook patting James on the head and tapping Davis as encouragement. The two stars barely acknowledged the third member of their trio.

“I told them I wish I could help them,” Westbrook said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the game to be able to help them and that’s why I’ve, why I came here to be able to help them out. So, unfortunately I haven’t been able to do that for them, but that’s not my call.”

Westbrook was booed for the second game in a row, but appeared unperturbed by the slight from fellow Angelenos, saying, “It’s a sign of respect.”

But his recent benchings paint a clear picture of the Lakers’ issues, and underscore just how miserable this season has become and how few options remain. It is impossible for anyone, including many within the organization, to see a path back to contention without major changes. The Lakers would almost certainly be in for a major shakeup prior to Thursday’s deadline if not for the fact that their most tradeable players — Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker — are not seen as attractive targets by other teams and the only first round pick they have to trade can’t be used until 2027.

The Lakers have backed themselves into a corner, most urgently with Westbrook. The trade — championed, if not orchestrated, by James and Davis — can already be counted among the worst management decisions in NBA history.

Sources have indicated that the Lakers no longer believe they can win at a high level with Westbrook alongside James and Davis, but prior to Tuesday the line of thinking was that the Lakers would be unwilling to wave the white flag and admit their summer blockbuster was a failure. Instead, they would prefer to wait until the offseason, when they could also include a 2029 pick in a potential deal for another max-contract player looking for a new home.

But the tone after Tuesday’s loss suggested the Lakers are in need of more immediate action. Could things be so dire that the Lakers would be better off including that ’27 pick in a swap now — say for Houston’s John Wall? — even if it means a lesser return? Desperation got the Lakers into this mess and it might take desperation to get them out.

Either way, whether it is by Thursday’s deadline or in the summer, the Lakers know they need to find their way out of the Russell Westbrook business.

One Lakers staffer who had reservations about the trade when it was made in July recently told The Athletic, “I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

The frustrating thing is that the circumstances didn’t have to be this dire.

This is not only a team that is barely 16 months removed from winning a title, but also one that less than a year ago was chasing the top seed in the Western Conference before Hawks forward Solomon Hill fell into James’ leg. The resulting high ankle sprain ended James’ MVP candidacy and forced him to miss 20 games. But even after having to navigate the play-in, the Lakers took a 2-1 lead against eventual conference-champion Phoenix despite, as James said on Tuesday, “We weren’t healthy for that series.” That moment stalled out , of course, when Davis strained his groin in Game 4, but that shows just how close the margins were for the Lakers a year ago.

This season? What was a game of inches is now a game of miles.

Pelinka discarded the remaining core of the title team for Westbrook — leaving almost no escape routes — opted not to counter Chicago’s offer for Alex Caruso and declined to engage with the oft-maligned point guard Dennis Schröder, who, according to league sources, was up for returning to the Lakers as Westbrook’s backup before eventually signing with Boston for the mid-level exception with Boston. (The deal the Lakers gave to Kendrick Nunn, who has not yet played this season due to a bone bruise in his right knee.)

The albatross of Westbrook’s contract left the Lakers with few options other than to scour free agency for minimum contract players like Carmelo Anthony and Malik Monk, who were hits, and Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza, DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard, who have… not been.

Along the way, the Lakers mined relative gems like Avery Bradley, Austin Reaves and Stanley Johnson. But those pebbles aren’t tipping the scales against a boulder-like Westbrook.

Nobody expects Pelinka to untangle all of that before Thursday’s deadline and he is an uncomfortable spot. By now, it should be his job that is drawing scrutiny. But there is a risk of being too aggressive and wasting assets to salvage a season that can’t be saved. You can’t make a mistake like trading Ivica Zubac for Mike Muscala, as Pelinka and Magic Johnson did in 2019.

In the end, Pelinka may not have the flexibility to do anything to address the growing dissatisfaction with the course of this season — no matter how much pressure he feels, and should feel, to fix the team he assembled.

The Lakers have 27 games left, come what may.

“I don’t think we’ve given up on this,” said Davis. “I know we haven’t. … We can turn this around, but it’s going to take a lot of work.

“To do it, it’s going to take us as a team collectively to do so. We’ve got to buy in. We’ve just got to (have) everyone go out there and play for each other. Play hard. Play selfless. And try to turn this around before it gets really bad.”

But Davis was swimming upstream against the current of James’ words.

Before it gets really bad?

James told the truth: It already is."

 

I think the league has everything to do with building dynasties in Boston and LA.

Must be influential people among themselves early on.

All that most influential, most attractive, history personified, most successful organization BS.

 

2023 at least looks pretty bare for Lakers targets especially if Jokic and Beal sign extensions. Though Jokic in particular says he wants to be Nugget for life, he can also easily bolt if the Nuggets supporting cast continue to fail him.

 

California. Big market tradition and $$$.

 

Unless Russ wants a buyout, I do not want him on this team.....to bring that cancer to our younger players.

DD