The Los Angeles Lakers’ acquisition of former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook is one that was heavily analyzed at the time of the deal and continues to be now. Five games into the regular season and the jury is still out on the deal.
Los Angeles surrendered a lot of depth making the deal. Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell are three rotation players that were sent to Washington to land Westbrook.
Thus far, the results have been a mixed bag, at best. It is going to take some time for Westbrook to acclimate himself to playing alongside two other stars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. For the Lakers to reach the heights they believe they are capable of, those three need to be on the same page.
We have seen flashes of it, but no sustained success with those three. The Lakers went 0-6 in the preseason and started the regular season off 0-2. Westbrook has looked more like himself when James was sidelined nursing an ankle injury, but they will need all three performing at a high level to win a championship.
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It is still very early, but some of the issues people were worried about have popped up. Westbrook’s lack of perimeter shooting has sometimes hurt the offense and he is struggling to find a consistent niche role.
If things don’t improve, could the Lakers look to trade Russell Westbrook? Over at FanNation, some hypothetical deals were made. One of them involved the New Orleans Pelicans. Let’s take a look at the hypothetical deal that lands Westbrook in the Big Easy.
