The Los Angeles Lakers have been fairly disappointing to start the 2021-22 season. While the team is dealing with injuries and has played more without LeBron James than with him, the start of the season has still been extremely disappointing.
The Lakers have had a pretty easy start to the schedule with the most impressive win thus far being an overtime win over the Miami Heat at home without Jimmy Butler playing. Besides that, the Lakers have played some cupcakes, some of which have beaten the Lakers.
Both Oklahoma City and Minnesota have beaten the Lakers. Those are not the kind of teams you want to lose to as an NBA Championship contender.
One of the most disappointing things during the season has been Russell Westbrook. Nobody expected it to be a seamless fit on the Lakers but thus far, Westbrook is proving the critics correct. The fit is not great and he is playing poorly.
Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers might wish that they didn’t do the Russell Westbrook trade.
The Lakers had to make some sort of improving move during the offseason after falling short in the NBA Playoffs last season. This is why LA made the Westbrook trade, after all.
However, there were other options that were much better for the purple and gold. These better options aren’t just theoretical options, either. There are players that were traded during the offseason that would have been much better in LA.
There are four such traded players from the offseason that the Lakers should have traded for instead. Let’s dive into them, starting with a two-some that we have covered here on Lake Show Life.