Whether a byproduct of front office dysfunction or a carefully crafted trade position, the Los Angeles Lakers have let it be known that they are unlikely to trade Russell Westbrook or both of their two available first round picks.
With Westbrook playing better off the bench, the Lakers are apparently now prepared to keep him and allow his $47 million contract to expire, which theoretically could generate up to $35 million in cap space for L.A.
The Lakers are still willing to trade Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Damian Jones, and Juan Toscano-Anderson, all of whom have not played as well as expected. Together their combined salaries total $22.4 million.
The Lakers’ latest grand plan is for the team to start playing up to potential. Since the 2–10 start, they’ve gone 9–6 and are 12th in the West at 11–16. Make free throws and they would have gone 11–4 and would now be 13–14.
Starting tonight against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers need to come out and start putting everything together. They have a formula to win despite their lack of shooting by dominating free throws and points in the paint.
Besides Darwin Ham continuing to fine tune his starting and closing lineups, the Lakers will also be looking to get more help via a Beverley, Nunn, filler, and pick trade sometime over the next two to four weeks.
Once that trade is made, look for the Lakers to make one final review of the Westbrook trade situation as they approach the February 9 Trade Deadline to see if there were any newer and better opportunities to trade Russ.
What’s next for the Lakers? Here are five steps they need to take in order between now and the February 9 Trade Deadline to keep their hopes of legitimately competing for the 2022–23 NBA championship alive and well.
1. Bench Beverley and Schroder
Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder played together for 123 minutes in 8 games this season with an offensive rating of 105.8, defensive rating of 113.7, and net rating of -7.9. Paired up, they’ve been outscored by 63 points.
The time has come for Darvin Ham to remove both Beverley and Schroder from the starting lineup. Their inability to effectively shoot or defend the three combined with their lack of size is a bad fit to open or close games.
The Lakers are entering a critical phase in a final push to save the season. It’s time for Darvin Ham to bench Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder and start his best five players not named Russ to give the Lakers a shot.
2. Start Reaves and Brown, Jr.
Darvin Ham needs to start Austin Reaves and Troy Brown, Jr. alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Lonnie Walker IV. That would give the Lakers a starting lineup with better size, outside shooting, and defense.
The five-man lineup of Reaves, Walker, Brown, James, and Davis has surprisingly only played a total of 4 minutes in 3 games this season, posting a 157.1 offensive rating, 70.0 defensive rating, and +87.1 net rating.
The Lakers have struggled all season with slow starts to games and second halves and much of that is the mix of payers Ham has started and closed games. Everybody on this lineup has size, can shoot, and can defend.
Until the Lakers trade to get some help, it’s up to Darvin Ham to make adjustments to have the Lakers playing better. Replacing Beverley and Schroder with Reaves and Brown, Jr. is a move Ham needs to make now.
3. Bench Russ to Close Games
The next step in season-long transformation of Russell Westbrook from superstar to 6MOY is his removal from many if not all closing situations. Even if he’s playing well, Russ is simply too dangerous to close games.
Used like Ham has been using him, Russ is the ultimate minutes eater and stat producer. He constantly makes great plays few in the league can make. He’s especially valuable in the middle of games and during long seasons.
But coming down the stretch of games or in the playoffs, Russ’ horrible shot selection, tendency to turn the ball over, and inability to shoot become too chaotic and dangerous to tolerate as part of the standard closing team.
Darvin Ham has to look at the matchups, how Westbrook has been playing, where we are in the game, and limit his participation to close games and focus his effort at the middle of halves when Russ can dominate.
4. Trade Beverley and Nunn
The Lakers only have player contracts to make two trades: a Beverley and Nunn trade for a player or players earning around $20 million per year and a Westbrook trade for player or player earning around $47 million per year.
The expectation is the Lakers will make the smaller Beverly and Nunn trade in the next two to four weeks. The trade will likely include one of their draft picks and would help even if it were the only trade they make. Lakers’ targets include Bojan Bogdanovic, O.G. Anunoby, Kyle Kuzma, Eric Gordon, Jae Crowder, Cam Reddish, DeMar DeRozan and Evan Fournier. Issue will be teams demanding unprotected pick and Lakers resisting.
The goal of doing the small trade would be to give the Lakers some help so they can stay in contention while waiting to deadline to see if any new trade opportunities arise or terms on possible deals get more favorable.
5. Trade or Keep Westbrook
The Lakers are still hoping a team like the Chicago Bulls or the Toronto Raptors decides to rebuild and become sellers and move valuable players who no longer fit their new timeline. That’s when they hope to move Russ.
But once the team approaches the February 9 trade deadline, the Lakers will have to make a decision to trade or keep Russell Westbrook. How the team is doing will obviously have a major impact on the Laker’ decision.
Trading Westbrook is really the Lakers only way to upgrade the roster so if they’re still in contention, they may trade Russ and maybe save a pick. If not, they may decide to keep him and let his $47 million contract expire.
By February 9th, the price teams may be demanding to take Russ in trade will likely decrease to just one rather than two picks. The chances then increase dramatically that the Lakers will ultimate trade Westbrook.
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