Aloha,
Marc Stein has reported that the Lakers are telling
Anyone who will listen that they are keeping Russ. That they will not give up future assets to move him nor will they waive and stretch him. Posturing? Perhaps, or it could be reality setting in. The Front office has had ample time to talk with everyone in the league and gage what opportunities are out there. There simply may not be a trade that they see as a path to elevating the team into contender status. And why waste assets on players that won’t do that.
A good example is the Pacers. Buddy and Brogdon is everyone’s favorite trade. Yet there hasn’t been one hint of interest coming from the Pacers camp. They have repeatedly said they are going to build while trying to stay competitive. That are not tearing it down. Considering they are way under the salary cap and not an ideal destination for free agents there really isn’t a need to create additional cap space. They can simply hold onto their players until the right opportunity comes along.
Perhaps the Lakers would consider adding draft picks to obtain the two but it’s likely that a trade isn’t available.
The two teams that the rumors were supposed to come from the front offices are the Rockets and Hornets. The Rockets want a first and I wouldn’t do that either. I’m sure the Hornets interest revolves around Hayward. The Lakers probably have talked with a Mitch. Maybe the Lakers do not like the Hornets proposal. Honestly I could see why the Lakers would hesitate about giving up picks for Hayward.
The Lakers will have cap space again after Russ falls off the books. Perhaps they are not willing to take on contracts for the players that maybe available for several years after Russ would have been gone, if it is not a championship move. Or Perhaps after talking with other teams there just isn’t a trade available. While expiring contracts are valuable 47 mil for one player is problematic. And if that player is seen as a negative it becomes even more difficult. While I rarely say never, I’m not optimistic that a trade will happen for Russ this summer.
I made similar points and comments both in-season and recently. I believe Tom’s response prior to the deadline was LMFAO. Ahhhh yes, yes indeed it was. One of us has been laughing ever since and I’ve been studying recipes in how Crow can best be served. It’s hard for some folks to accept simple logic like “small market teams don’t need to clear $47 million dollars in cap space because whom will they spend it on?” Those kind of questions get brushed aside and tossed out the window. The reality and truth of the matter is the Wall deal may be all that could hapoen and, at best, that is a lateral move. Russ and his deal will have the most value at next season’s trade deadline. Depending on how he’s playing maybe notveven much then. Which is exactly why I’ve been floating the notion that simply acquiring cap space when his deal is up isn’t the worst outcome. Far worse to cut the feet out from inder the future by giving up picks to take on bad deals. Especially if Ham has some good ideas how to make it all work.
It’s hard for some folks to accept that dumping bad salary is more important to some NBA teams than winning. in any given year, the main focus of half of the teams in the NBA is making sure to make money, not spending to win championships. It’s a business and profits and growth of assets are the primary objectives of most of the small market teams.
As for the notion that there is value in the Lakers keeping Russ to clear cap space when his contract expires, I wholeheartedly agree. If LeBron extended 1+1, the timing would be perfect. The problem with that theory is it sacrifices what is probably going to be the Lakers best shot at winning #18 in this decade. Like trading LeBron and/or AD, it’s a move that could work out better long-term but is highly unlikely to happen in my opinion. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait to long to find out who eats crow.
Aloha, Michael,
Looks like the Lakers posturing is working as they even have you convinced that they would not give up a draft pick in any Russell Westbrook trade.
All everybody is doing right now is establishing their starting bargaining position. Rarely do we see teams refusing to adjust as we get closer to free agency.
I also don’t buy that teams are out to give it to the Lakers because they know they’re desperate. In the end, each team is going to do what’s best for them.
I still believe the Lakers will trade Westbrook and that all of the current hullabaloo is just posturing. Being able to clean up their cap will be enough for the Lakers to move Russ. They’ll end up giving up a pick but will also get better players in return as the quid pro quo.
Great points made by all. There is a tightrope that needs to be walked when dealing with Russ’ contract. Just using round numbers for simplicity…say our cap number is $150mill with Russ and the league cap is set at $115mill. If we just let him walk at the end, we don’t automatically have that $150mill and his $47mill to work with anymore. Our number becomes $103mill and we only have $12mill to work with…not quite the same flexibility. Teams that are willing to spend the money (and I’m not totally convinced that Jeannie is) want to keep that cap number inflated to provide added manuverablity, but with good players who can either contribute to a title run or become trade assets in the future. Hence…..the tightrope.
There’s also a perfect storm happening in that the Lakers don’t want to pay exorbitant luxury taxes and they could really use the $10.3M MLE and $4.1M BAE plus ability to receive players in S&Ts that being hardcapped would give them.
In many ways, the Lakers might end up getting better players via free agency than trade. The MLE and BAE and S&Ts open up a world of free agents the Lakers cannot get in a straight trade. The free agents won’t cost as much, will be younger, and will have more upside and none of the injury and performance questions as players in bad contracts.
For me, the dominating factor that tells me the Lakers trading Russell Westbrook this summer is a slam dunk is the coming season is probably the team’s best opportunity to win #18 this decade. The Warriors, Clippers, and Grizzlies are all going to get better every year while the Lakers have to try and play catchup.
If the Lakers keep Russ, I don’t see any way the team is going to be successful. Russ is not going to change anything and he will be a year older and a year less explosive. Even if we send him home like the Rockets did to Wall, we’ll miss the rotation players that trading him could have gotten us.
The math is pretty simple. If the Lakers want the LeBron era to end on a positive note, they have to go all in this summer. They have two trading chips with questionable value – Westbrook and THT. In the end, I bet they will use a draft pick to enhance the trade for each of them. Russ + Pick will get LAL something like Brogdon and Hield and THT + Pick will get them something like Christian Wood.
Lakers need to get 3 rotation players from Russ and THT.
i dont a trade being a slam dunk and i certainly dont see a trade that will bring back players that elivate the Lakers into true contenders. this is not a good year for free agents because of tight money. teams will look at trades. and teams like the Pacer will look for more value. at over 30 mil in cap space in a market that doesn’t draw high end free agents they have no incentive to dump even more salary. they can wait for the right trade to come along that will help them build now. not wait 5 years to spend a draft pick.
I do agree it would be hard to get enough back to be a legitimate contender but that’s probably going to depend more on a healthy and peak playing LeBron and AD than anything.
We won’t be favorites for sure, even after a great summer, but hopefully we’ll make good progress, get rid of Russ, and end up with players who will at least be viable trading chips or rotation players.
I think the decision to hire Ham is a positive sign that we may see more intelligent decision making by the Lakers. At least I hope so. LOL. It’s hard sometimes to be a loyal fan. Anyway, good so far. And I like the posturing. Don’t know whether it works in the end but it’s a game we all have to play.
Sometimes different opinions are the result of philosophical points, like analytics or rim protection. But most of the time, it’s how we look at the proverbial half-empty, half-full glass. That sets the range of what each of us thinks is going to happen.
We glass half-full types shoot for everything we want knowing we won’t get it all while you glass half-empty types predict what they expect will happen hoping that they’re wrong but not wanting to be hugely disappointed.
Fantasy vs Reality? Sometimes but not always.
Actually in 2023 we only have 51 mil on the books. But of course LeBron will be a huge cap hold and there will be minimum cap holds as well. But the cap is estimated to be 128 mil in 2023 that coupled with access to the full MLE and bi annual would give us money to spend on several decent role players. I think the days of big 3’s are behind us.