The Los Angeles Lakers made a bold move by trading away Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell to the Washington Wizards in return for Russell Westbrook, and thus far, it hasn’t paid off.
The former Scoring Champion hasn’t been efficient, his defense has been subpar, and it’s clear that there are serious spacing issues with him on the court next to Anthony Davis and DeAndre Jordan.
That’s why a lot of people around the league speculate that Westbrook could be on the move at some point in the NBA season, assuming another franchise is willing to absorb his huge contract.
NBA Rumors: Lakers Could Trade Westbrook To New Orleans
With that in mind, Lee Tran of Fadeaway World came up with an idea that might as well turn out to be a win-win scenario. They could trade him to the New Orleans Pelicans in return for Jonas Valanciunas, Tomas Satoransky, and Devonte’ Graham:
“The New Orleans Pelicans already have two All-Star caliber players in Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. If you were to add Russell Westbrook to this duo, there are few Western Conference squads that will have more star power. Russell Westbrook can take some of the ball-handling and playmaking duties from Zion Williamson, allowing him to focus on scoring. He could also set up Brandon Ingram for easy opportunities on the perimeter, and allow him to have an easier time getting his points,” said Lee.
Westbrook could try and work his magic again and lead the Pelicans to a spot in the play-in tournament. He’s used to playing with younger, inexperienced teams and being the alpha male in the locker room.
The Lakers, on the other hand, would get some win-now pieces that could be a better fit on their roster. Despite their good play this season, they don’t seem to have a future with the Pelicans organization and they’d be glad to offload those contracts:
“While none of these players are individually better than Russell Westbrook, getting back a top 10 center, a capable point guard, and a role player could provide the desired impact and help the Los Angeles Lakers improve,” Lee added.
This seems like a big of a long shot and chances are that the Lakers will have to keep trying to work things out with their Big 3. But we can never rule out a major roster overhaul for a team that has LeBron James on its roster.
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