It has been a struggle for the Los Angeles Lakers to produce wins at the level of a regular NBA championship contender during the 2021-22 season. Despite adding Russell Westbrook alongside an already title-winning duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the job isn’t getting done.
There are significant limitations to how the Lakers can manage to make changes to their roster ahead of the NBA trade deadline. One of the options they could try is to shop Russell Westbrook, who was acquired in the offseason from the Washington Wizards using most of the remaining trade assets Los Angeles still had.
Is the theory of why the Lakers needed Westbrook even still valid in theory? LeBron James is playing like an MVP and is thriving putting up huge scoring numbers. He is coming off a month of December with an average of 30+ points per game and a 40-point, 10-rebound outing on Saturday.
James needs spacing and complements around him in the Los Angeles Lakers half-court offense, not to stand and watch an inefficient guard like Westbrook try to make things happen. Westbrook seems to be best suited to be the sole star perimeter player on a team where he can have a massive usage rate as an initiator.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Lakers-Pelicans Trade Is Focused On Russell Westbrook
When evaluating potential landing spots for Westbrook, HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan mentioned the New Orleans Pelicans among a variety of other teams.
Westbrook is a floor raiser and he showed that in Washington last season as the Wizards wouldn’t have made it to the play-in tournament without him. The New Orleans Pelicans, for example, could use Westbrook but any trade right now would likely cost them three of Jonas Valanciunas, Josh Hart, Devonte’ Graham, Tomas Satoransky just to match salaries.
The idea of the Pelicans as a potential Russell Westbrook trade suitor is an intriguing one. The team was willing to pay Kyle Lowry a massive amount and it still wasn’t enough to land his services in free agency. New Orleans is at a point where bad contracts for high-level talent is a must if they want that type of player.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Lakers-Pelicans Trade Is Focused On Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is playing on one of the worst contracts in the NBA and the New Orleans Pelicans have a variety of spare parts to compile a salary-matching deal. The team needs to show Zion Williamson they are serious about winning and landing a former MVP could be a way to do it.
