Winners & Losers: Lakers Trade for Russell Westbrook

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 23: Russell Westbrook #4 of the Washington Wizards looks on during the game against the LA Clippers on February 23, 2021 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)

Did the Lakers get better? If we’re talking about the regular season, 1,000 percent. Westbrook’s energy and motor will carry LA on nights when LeBron or AD ain’t feeling it or are out of the lineup due to injury or load management. Nobody plays harder than Westbrook. No. Body. He’s the ultimate competitor and almost every teammate loves playing with him. He’s still one of the top point guards in the league and he’s showing no decline in his ability to distribute, rebound, and finish around the basket. Not only will he alleviate some of the scoring responsibility placed on James and Davis, he will help push things for the Lakers, something they excelled at during the 2019-20 championship season and kind of got away from last year. Guess what team led the league in pace last season? Washington. The Lakers finished 21st.

I’m sure he’s hyped to welcome Westbrook to the Lakers, but reality is AD is probably going to have to play a lot more center in order to help with the spacing issues this trade just created. Because pairing Davis with another big under the basket would just suck up all the precious space LeBron and Russ need to drive and finish or kick out to an open shooter. And if you don’t let Russ do what he does best what’s the point of trading for him?

Davis has expressed his hesitation in the past with spending too much time at the five. And you get why. He’s injury-prone and the additional banging and bruising one endures playing center isn’t ideal when you’re hurt way too often. The Lakers have done their best to keep AD at power forward as much as possible to protect him and take advantage of mismatches. Sure, Russ and AD can form a dangerous pick-and-roll partnership and that’s great for everybody involved, but with Russ on board it feels like Davis is just going to have to suck it up and play a position he’d prefer not to over the long haul. Sorry, AD.  

Hear me out. The Lakers will be big favorites in the Western Conference to reach the NBA Finals after this transaction. We all understand why. But as great as it is is for the Lakers and their regular season fortunes, there are plenty of reasons to have reservations about how this will work once LA reaches the playoffs.

That’s because Russ hasn’t been particularly great, especially when it comes to knocking down shots, when the games matter most. He’s a career 40.8 percent shooter from the field in the playoffs and has only twice connected on 35 percent or more of his 3-point attempts in 11 trips to the postseason. The Lakers need more outside shooting. Not less. A lineup featuring LeBron and Russ hurts that pursuit. I know LA only played in one series this spring, but the Lakers were the second worst 3-point shooting squad in the playoffs. Washington was the basement dweller.

More specifically regarding Russ, remember when the Rockets faced off with the Lakers in the bubble two summers ago? Remember how they purposely left him wide open on the perimeter, doubling James Harden, and daring Westbrook to beat them with his shot and he couldn’t? Barring a ridiculous shooting renaissance nobody sees coming, Westbrook’s struggles from beyond the arc probably ain’t changing. His overall playoff numbers have taken a noticeable dive compared to his regular season numbers the past three postseasons and his decision-making at critical junctures isn’t always the greatest. 

While the combo of James and Westbrook in the backcourt will undeniably be a beast to handle at times, if you foul them and force them to hit their free throws (both are suspect from the line) or dare them to make outside shots (especially if the Lakers can’t stack some serious shooters around that duo) the Lakers will be very vulnerable. Don’t think for one second that their rivals—the Clippers, Suns, Nuggets, Warriors, Blazers—haven’t made note of that despite this seismic addition.  

The triple-double king reportedly was very interested in playing full-time in his native Los Angeles and it just happened. Good for Westbrook, who only has one year and $44 million remaining on his deal (he has a player option for $47 million for the 2022-23 season that he’ll probably opt-in because that’s a lot of god damn money for a 34 year old to turn down whose game is so dependent on his supreme athleticism). He gets to form a new big three and get a serious shot at returning to the NBA Finals (he went in 2012) for the first time since the 2016 Western Conference Finals when the Thunder had a 3-1 lead over the Warriors. Life is good for Russ right now.

Reports, including from our pal Shams Charania from The Athletic and Stadium, continue to indicate that Beal wants to make it work in Washington. With one year left on his deal, plus a player-option for the 2022-23 season, he’s not looking for a trade this summer. On top of netting them an additional first-round pick in a deep draft, the move by Washington got them out from under Westbrook’s monster deal, considered one of the worst in the NBA. It cleared up money down the line for the franchise to go shopping for an even more impactful second star than Westbrook should the Wizards be able to sign Beal to a long-term extension. Sure, Beal and Westbrook did make for a good tandem—Beal told us recently how awesome it was playing alongside Russ—and short term it ain’t great. KCP, Kuzma, and Harrell don’t possess the talent that Westbrook does, obviously, but they are pretty good role players (on, most notably, reasonable/flippable contracts) that can help Beal and Wizards flirt with a second-straight berth in the playoffs. Playing the long game, this is a good thing for the 28-year-old Beal if he really is intent on winning with the Wizards.