ESPN analyst explains why the Lakers didn't trade Russell Westbrook

Most fans expected the Los Angeles Lakers to try and do something before the trade deadline. And even though they had limited assets to deal with, it was still kind of shocking to see that they didn’t make any moves.

Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka stated that there was ‘an alignment’ between him, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James and that the team never found a deal that made sense in the long run. But in reality, it’s not like they had any leverage whatsoever.

That meant the Lakers would’ve had to absorb bad deals and/or give away at least one draft pick to revamp their roster for an unlikely late playoff push. That, according to Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN, was the ultimate deal-breaker.

ESPN: Lakers Weren’t Willing To Give Up Draft Picks In Any Trades

(Transcript via Fadeaway World)

“My interpretation was that the Lakers organization, from ownership on down, basically decided: ‘You guys got yourself into this. This is the bed you have made. LeBron, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, all the future Hall of Famers, this is your choice of roster and team, go make it work, and we are not going to mortgage our future in terms of draft picks and in terms of taking on luxury tax’.”

Lakers Haven’t Given Up On Russell Westbrook

Moreover, Pelinka and the Lakers refuse to just pull the plug on Russell Westbrook. The belief within the front office is that it’s still too early to give up on the experiment and they still want to give him another chance:

“But I think the Lakers are not ready to pull the ripcord on that Russell Westbrook experiment. I think they feel like the team, the coach, the coaching staff, everybody has not done enough to say this isn’t going to work. Russell Westbrook is a future Hall of Famer. There are different ways that he can be used.”

At the end of the day, blaming one guy for the team’s struggles isn’t fair nor accurate. But Westbrook also needs to be better and realize what the team needs from him at this point in his career.