bojan bogdanovic

In less than one month, the Los Angeles Lakers have gone from having early season doubts AD would ever take the torch from LeBron James to experiencing the 10-game transformation that signaled his ‘Arrival.’

After struggling with injuries and missed games the past two seasons, Anthony Davis put the Lakers on his shoulders after a rough 2–10 start and has led them to a 3-game road win streak and an 8–2 record in last 10.
During this 10-game stretch, the Lakers have posted the 4th best offensive rating, 8th best defensive rating, and 4th best net rating in the league. They also ranked 2nd in FG%, 8th in 3P%, and 8th in FT% the last 10 games.

Anthony Davis’ ‘Arrival’ changes everything for the Lakers and complicates the important looming decisions by ownership and management regarding trading Russell Westbrook and their two available first round draft picks.
The Lakers’ front office was already sharply divided as to whether to invest their two picks to give this roster a shot at a ring or save the picks for next summer. The ‘Arrival’ of Anthony Davis ironically affects both arguments.

Let’s examine how Anthony Davis’ ‘Arrival’ the last 10 games as the next face of the franchise changes everything with respect to the Lakers’ needs, trading Russell Westbrook, and Trading their two first round draft picks.

1. Does AD’s ‘Arrival’ Change the Lakers Needs?

Anthony Davis’ ‘Arrival’ should end the perennial arguments about whether he’s better as a center or a power forward. If AD continues to play like the last 10 games, he will most likely win MVP and DPOY awards as a center.

The Lakers have spent the last three seasons futilely searching for a starting center to play alongside Anthony Davis, both to allow him to play his preferred power forward position and to protect him from physicality.
I’ve long supported trading for Myles Turner to play alongside AD but this Shaquille O’Neal version of Anthony Davis is even better than Bubble AD. It’s time for the Lakers to accept Anthony Davis is now their starting center.

With Davis at center, James at power forward, Walker at shooting guard, and Schröder acceptable at point guard, the Lakers greatest need now becomes a starting small forward or 3&D wing to defend bigger scorers.
The Lakers need to end those three guard lineups with nobody over 6′ 5″. Fortunately, 3&D candidates for that position include Bojan Bogdanovic, Jae Crowder, Lauri Markkanen, O.G. Anunoby, and Cam Reddish.

The Lakers first move should be to trade Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Damian Jones, and a protected first round pick for one of the above wings to give their starting lineup more size, especially at small forward position.
The Lakers also need better front court backups. Bryant, Gabriel, and Brown, Jr would be the backup center, power forward, and small forward. Lakers’ top bench priority should be a backup center like Kelly Olynyk.

Anthony Davis’ ‘Arrival’ has changed what the Lakers need in terms of roster upgrades. Top two priorities are landing a starting 3&D small forward and backup center who can stretch the floor and protect the rim

2. Does AD’s ‘Arrival’ Change Russell Westbrook trade?

With Anthony Davis playing like the best player in the world and the Lakers looking like a legitimate championship contenders, there’s a path emerging where the Lakers keep Russell Westbrook and allow his contract to expire.

The benefits of not trading Westbrook include the creation of $35 million in cap space that could be used to sign free agents this summer assuming they don’t trade for any long-term contracts and keeping one or both draft picks.
Ironically, another benefit of not trading Westbrook is still being able to benefit from his excellent play off the bench. Replacing the volume assists Russ gives AD is one of the major challenges of trading for Westbrook.

Unfortunately, other than trading Russ and picks, the only other Lakers’ package that has value is Beverley, Nunn, Jones, and a first round pick, which could bring back player(s) who earn $20 million per year combined.
Theoretically, the Lakers could trade for a player like Bogdanovic to fill out their starting lineup of Schroder, Walker, Bogdanovic, James, and Davis and have a solid bench of Westbrook, Reaves, Brown, Gabriel, and Bryant.

If the Lakers can trade Beverley, Nunn, Jones, and a pick for a Bogdanovic, they might have enough with the Shaquille O’Neal version of Anthony Davis and a healthy and rested LeBron James to win it all while keeping Russ.
That’s an argument we should expect the Buss Brothers to make as we approach December 15th and Rob Pelinka and the front office start to execute their key stretch drive moves to upgrade the Lakers’ roster.

It makes sense for the Lakers to execute a trade for a starting small forward on December 15, which would still give them a chance to see how the team plays and reconsider trading Westbrook if the need and opportunity arise.

3. Does AD’s ‘Arrival’ Change Lakers Trading Picks?

Anthony Davis playing like the ‘best player in the world’ has to ease any concern the Lakers’ front office may have had that LeBron James and Anthony Davis were still capable of winning the NBA championship.

It should also give the Lakers confidence that the player they gambled would become the heir apparent to LeBron James has finally shown that he is up for that challenge and is right now taking the torch from the King.
That should theoretically give the Lakers confidence to go all-in to win the NBA championship this season both to get LeBron James another ring before he retires and to prevent the Boston Celtics from winning #18.

The thing about a Russell Westbrook trade is it could bring back $47 million in combined salary vs the $20 million the Beverley, Nunn, and pick trade could bring back. That’s basically three rather than one rotation player.
Ideally, the Lakers need a starting small forward and a backup center, power forward, and small forward. The only logical way they can acquire those players is to trade Westbrook as well as Beverley, Nunn, and Jones.

After trading for Bogdanovic, the Lakers should trade Russell Westbrook and one unprotected first round pick to the Utah Jazz for Jordan Clarkson, Malik Beasley, and Kelly Olynyk to give them needed size and shooting.
That 3-player Westbrook trade would give them desperately needed bench depth and the roster versatility needed to deal with the long regular season and normal injuries and play jumbo big or super small in the playoffs.

Anthony Davis’ ‘Arrival’ changes everything for the Lakers and gives them a positive upside that’s clearly worth the team investing both first round draft picks to beat the Boston Celtics and win their 18th NBA championship.

The Lakers’ current roster literally screams a big Russell Westbrook trade is coming. The roster desperately needs the 3-point shooting and bigger 3&D players that only trading Westbrook and first round picks can get for them.

If the Lakers don’t trade Westbrook for two or three legitimate rotation players, they’re going to be doomed to missing the playoffs for the second straight year. The current roster is simply too small and cannot shoot. Complicating the situation, the only trading chip the Lakers have to bring back the needed 3-point shooting and depth at the forward positions is Russell Westbrook. They cannot upgrade the roster without trading him.

The Lakers and their new head coach Darvin Ham continue to discuss the possibility the team may in the end decide to bring Russell Westbrook back. Frankly, not trading Westbrook will doom the Lakers to repeat last season.

Lakers’ Current Roster Is Unfinished Product

While Pelinka transformed the backend of the Lakers’ current roster to be younger and more athletic and versatile, the roster remains an unfinished project without needed starters and rotation players from Westbrook trade.

If the Lakers do not trade Westbrook, they will likely be stuck with something close to the above roster, which could be the worst roster any franchise has surrounded LeBron James with over his 20-year NBA career. The crazy risks of bringing back Westbrook notwithstanding, there is no way the Lakers can open this season with this roster which boasts no quality 3-point shooting or front court depth to support James and Davis.

To begin, there is no way the Lakers are going to be a playoff team if two of their five starters and five of their top ten rotation players, including LeBron’s and AD’s primary backups, are unproven minimum salary players. That’s just not how the NBA works. Besides superstars, you also need six to eight legitimate rotation players to complement your stars and fill out your starting lineup and rotation. Right now, the Lakers just have three of those.

More importantly, there is no way the Lakers go into the season with unproven Troy Brown, Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Wenyen Gabriel as backups to LeBron James and Anthony Davis at small and power forward. Unless the Lakers plan for James and Davis to play heavy minutes, they need to find better quality rotation players to back up their superstars. The lack of depth behind LeBron and AD makes this roster unworkable.

Finally, the biggest reason the Lakers cannot bring Westbrook back is this roster as currently constructed is surely the worst 3-point shooting team now in the NBA and the worst 3-point shooting team in LeBron’s career. Here are the 3-point shooting stats for the Lakers’ projected five starters and five backups. What’s frightening is there is not a single player among the Lakers best ten who is close to the league average of 37.4% on threes.

The Lakers can’t just pull the plug on trading Westbrook when the cost went up because running out an inexperienced and undersized starting lineup and rotation that can’t shoot, will be as big a disaster as last season.

Best Three Westbrook Trades for Lakers

Let’s make one thing clear. If the Lakers pursue one of the following three trades, it means they are going to go all-in and invest their two first round draft picks to win another NBA championship before LeBron James retires.

Forget about cap space for Kyrie Irving next summer because the Lakers aren’t going to waste two unprotected first round draft picks for potential free agents like Myles Turner or Bojan Bogdanovic and not re-sign them. The key to the Lakers giving up their two first round picks is getting back players who fit Anthony Davis’ timeline and can still be factors come 2027 or even 2029 on whether the Lakers are a playoff or lottery team.

The Lakers’ goal in trading Westbrook should be to fix the deficiencies that make the current roster unworkable by finding three legitimate rotation players who are elite 3-point shooters and include at least one 3&D wing. Unsaid is the principle that the Lakers should not give up draft picks, especially unprotected ones, unless they believe the players they are getting will help them win a championship this season and after LeBron retires.

Here are three trades involving Russell Westbrook and the Lakers’ two available first round draft picks that do an excellent job adding elite 3-point shooting and front court positional size to fix the team’s current roster.

1. Trade with Jazz for Bogdanovic, Beasley, Clarkson, & Vanderbilt

The Lakers trade Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Wenyen Gabriel, and their 2027 and 2029 unprotected first round picks for four legitimate rotation players from Jazz including one starter and three primary backups.

Trade enables the Lakers to reduce minimum salary players from five players to just three and increase midlevel rotation players from just two to six players. Lakers also added three elite 3-point shooters in trade.

The Jazz trade is finally able to be consummated because recently traded Beasley and Vanderbilt can now be aggregated with other players. This could be the Russell Westbrook trade the Lakers choose because of depth.

2. Trade with Pacers & Knicks for Turner, Hield, & Reddish

The Lakers trade Russell Westbrook, Wenyen Gabriel, and their 2027 and 2029 unprotected picks for three legitimate rotation players from Jazz and Knicks including two starters and one critical primary backup.

Trade enables the Lakers to reduce minimum salary players from five players to just three and increase midlevel rotation players from just two to five players. Lakers also added three elite 3-point shooters in trade.

The Pacers trade is probably a better fit for the Lakers than the Jazz trade because of how great Myles Turner would fit in Darvin Ham’s systems and how he could unleash Anthony Davis to finally take the baton from LeBron.

3. Trade with Pacers & Jazz for Turner, Bogdanovic, & Beasley

The Lakers trade Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Wenyen Gabriel, and 2027 and 2029 unprotected first round picks for three legitimate rotation players from the Pacers and Jazz, including two starters and one backup.

In the end, this could be the best of all of the Westbrook trade options as it nets the Lakers the best two players available in Turner and Bogdanovic. This would be the trade Rob Pelinka should be trying to put together.

Lakers Have 20 Days Before Training Camp to Trade Westbrook

After today’s Westbrook and Beverley lovefest, expect the world to continue to ignore the obvious reality that there is simply no way the Lakers are going to open their season with the roster they currently have.

While it’s admirable that Ham thinks he can make Russ work, keeping Westbrook also means keeping the Lakers’ current roster with no way to fix the horrible 3-point shooting or lack of reliable backups for LeBron and AD. The harsh reality is the Lakers’ current roster is doomed to a fate similar to that of last year’s undersized and poor shooting roster. Ironically, it’s even possible that last year’s roster was even better than this year’s roster.

Posturing aside, the Los Angeles Lakers have no realistic option of fielding a competitive NBA team this season unless they trade Russell Westbrook and their two available first round draft picks for multiple rotation players.

bojan bogdanovic

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