Lakers: 3 reasons why LA should have traded for Buddy Hield instead

The Russell Westbrook experiment in Los Angeles is off to a shaky start, to say the least. He had a very disappointing debut, where he only finished with 8 points, 4 assists, and a plus-minus of -23.

He bounced back with two near triple-double performances in his next two games and was back to his old self when LeBron sat out a couple of games. But the Los Angeles Lakers have only won three out of his first six games and are two and four when he and LeBron both play.

In their first win with James on the court, he finished with a plus-minus of -8 and the player playing across from him at point guard, Ja Morant, dropped 40 points and 10 assists. Westbrook’s best performance with LeBron on the floor came in their latest win against the Cavs, but they still trailed for a good portion of this game.

At times Westbrook has looked lost as the third fiddle behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, struggling to find his place in the offense and looking very passive. This has even led to some suggestions of Westbrook coming off the bench or playing most of his minutes with the second unit, and that won’t help the clunky fit when they all plan on being on the floor to finish games.

This is not Westbrook’s fault though. The Lakers could have avoided the problem of figuring out what to do with him if they would have just traded for a player that better complimented their two stars.

The Los Angeles Lakers could have traded for Buddy Hield.

The Lakers decided to go all-in on LeBron James’ closing championship window and traded for a star which has worked out for them for most of their history. However this time around they might have been better off making the less flashy move and ran it back with a similar team that was a championship contender when healthy.

They did not need to blow up a core that won a title two seasons ago, and already had a strong defensive identity that carried them to that championship. Their moves to get better on offense and create a big three have caused them to become a mediocre defensive team.

It is way too early to panic and declare the Westbrook move a failure because he got off to slow starts with the last two teams he was with and was able to figure it out. However, it is hard not to think about where the Lakers would be if they would have made a smaller deal for Hield instead of the Westbrook one or made no trade at all.

These are the top three reasons why there might be some regret in making that move.