The Los Angeles Lakers keep looking for ways to improve their roster ahead of the season. They had to pat ways with a young asset in Talen Horton-Tucker to land Patrick Beverley, a hefty price to pay due to their tight salary cap situation.
Lakers have been trying to move on from Russell Westbrook for months now, but there have been no takers for his big contract. Also, their reluctance to attach a couple of draft picks to his deal makes it unlikely that any team will want to get him.
That's why it seems like the Lakers have just decided to move on from him, even if he's still on the roster. For starters, team owner Jeanie Buss didn't even mention him in their plans for the upcoming season.
NBA News: Jeanie Buss Doesn't Mention Russell Westbrook When Discussing Lakers' Future
"We changed coaches, so that’s a new voice," Buss told GQ. "And we are continuing to, hopefully, stay injury-free. We want to see Anthony Davis stay on the floor and be healthy the whole season. And when you have Anthony and LeBron, there’s a lot of great things that can happen."
"But you have to have a supporting cast of players that can fill roles and also stay injury-free," Buss added. "We have Kendrick Nunn coming back after missing last season, and a lot of young players that… I can name names, but until we see how they play there really isn’t… we have to give Darvin Ham all of the time and resources he needs to put the team together to see how they move forward."
Lakers could look to send Westbrook home if they don't find him a trade partner, just like the Houston Rockets did with John Wall. Whatever the case, it seems like he may have played his last game as a Laker already.
