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SHOULD THE LAKERS ACTUALLY TRADE RUSSELL WESTBROOK?

The Los Angeles Lakers this season have been a roller coaster to say the least. Injuries, covid protocols, needing time to mesh, questionable lineups, lack of urgency, lack of chemistry, just the whole nine. As a thirty-six year old LeBron James has been doing what he can, the rest of the team has not consistently applied the same energy and been on the same page. As for the Lakers team--and any team Westbrook is on-- Russ has been the name first to mention in any type of trade rumors or primary reason for his teams struggles. As for how the Lakers could solve their problems, I think there are several things to address.

Russell Westbrook on the season is averaging 19.6 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game, and 8 dimers per game so far. On forty-five percent from the field and thirty percent from three efficiency. As it always has been the narrative with Westbrook, effort has never been the problem as it has been his iq and shot selection. In the games that Anthony Davis and LeBron had missed, Westbrook had been picking up his productivity and playing well. As to be expected his stats go up with one or either or off the floor. My thing is LeBron and the LA Lakers known what they were getting into when doing the trade to acquire the thirty-three year old.

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A PROBLEM FROM THE JUMP

Westbrook on whether he should be in attack mode or look to find the open man- "I'm over the whole situation of what everybody else wants me to be doing and what they think I should do".

— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) December 27, 2021

From the time the trade had officially been announced and seeing the Lakers roster around LeBron and Westbrook there were doubts for obvious reasons. And no not your usual "oh two ball dominant players won't work" bs. LeBron and Russ are players that need shooting around them. The Westbrook-Deandre Jordan minutes have been terrible to watch, especially while having AD on the court at the same time who has not helped the spacing at all this year. To expect Westbrook at this age in his career to be a quality shooter or better at shot selection was a huge risk this year. Westbrook as a player has never been the best off ball wise. The fit between him and LeBron is still in the works and with AD out for a month that will continue to stall the time necessary to gell as a team. Yes come playoff time there will most likely be millions of questions on how the Lakers can win in the half court setting with this current roster and effort level. It would be laughable for the Lakers to trade Russ knowing all this was going to happen. There needs to be changes within the mindset of pretty much every Laker but especially Westbrook for them to win. 

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IS A TRADE EVEN POSSIBLE?

Russell Westbrook is one of the highest paid players in the league making $44M dollars this season. As Lakers fans are quick to throw players and Westbrook into the trade machine, there are two sides to every trade and contracts have to match. Trades have to also make sense for both sides. The only other player that matches that contract straight up, is John Wall. Who I have also seen as a suitor for Westbrook as if that is possible. If Houston has come out and said they do not want Wall to be a starter and take away progression from their young guys it makes zero sense to want a Westbrook swap. Whether we agree with Houstons perspective or not, they’re no going to want Russell Westbrook. Another name randomly popping up is Ben Simmons. Darryl Morrey already knows what Westbrook brings to the table and known that is not the best fit either for the 6ers next to Embiid. But I guess in that scenario it would be more realistic and involve possibly a third team. But even then, I am not sure if the Lakers would really want to do a Simmons-Westbrook swap just halfway into his first season with the team. That would be an entirely different topic. Other than those two, it would take some wild three or four teamers to get Westbrook off the Lakers, so lets be realistic here. 

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REMEMBER WHAT YA GAVE UP

In order to pickup Russell Westbrook, the Lakers had to trade away guys like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, and Kyle Kuzma. Trading away Kuz and KCP and not having enough money to pay Caruso, especially after giving Talen Horton-Tucker a decent contract. All three players were very solid and unselfish role players for the Lakers that the fans heavily ridiculed and took for granted, in typical Laker fashion. Not all fans obviously, but i'll say most. A consistent 3&D guy like KCP the Lakers could use right now. Caruso as we all know is the farthest from just a meme and is one of the best if not the best backup point guards in the league as a potential defensive team candidate and good playmaker and hustle guy. And Kuzma this season has been a good defender whilst on the offensive end came in clutch for Washington for several occasions. All of this excellent depth was swapped for a bunch of older guys on minimum contracts. Yes Westbrook in it of itself has his problems that need serious work but the supporting cast for the Lakers is the primary concern right now and how that can be upgraded. Especially due to all this covid protocol stuff. The Lakers have had to play Isaiah Thomas, Rajon Rondo, and Russell Westbrook on the floor at the same time. As the non-LeBron minutes continue to effect the Lakers, I hope they look to acquire another wing shot creator and/or consistent 3&D wing guy primarily.

So should LA trade Westbrook? Absolutely not. The Lakers problems are internal at the moment. Yes some minor moves need to be made to increase the energy level and spacing on the team, but not Russell Westbrook.