Lakers: Rob Pelinka was right to not trade for John Wall

There appears to be some drama between Rob Pelinka and Klutch Sports after the Los Angeles Lakers did not make a trade at the NBA trade deadline. According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, Rich Paul was not happy with the fact that the Lakers didn’t trade Russell Westbrook for John Wall at the deadline.

Paul represents both LeBron James and Anthony Davis so it is safe to say that this is an indication that the two stars wanted Westbrook out of LA. Ironically enough, they are the two that likely pushed for Westbrook in the first place.

This has created a divide among Laker fans. There are those that support Pelinka’s decision to stand strong and not cave to LeBron’s pressure. However, there are also fans who think Wall would have been an improvement because of how bad Westbrook has been.

It does not matter how bad the Westbrook situation has been for LA. This would have fixed absolutely nothing for LA.

The Los Angeles Lakers trading for John Wall would have been awful.

Let’s think about all of the things that make Russell Westbrook a bad fit for the Los Angeles Lakers, shall we? He is a ball-dominant guard who needs a high usage rate to succeed, he is prone to turnovers, he cannot shoot threes, he does not play good defense and he is getting paid $44.1 million.

Now let’s think of all the reasons why John Wall is not playing for the Rockets and is practically unmovable. He is a ball-dominant guard who needs a high usage rate to succeed, he is prone to turnovers, he cannot shoot threes, he does not play good defense and he is getting paid $44.1 million.

The numbers do not lie, folks. Here are Westbrook’s numbers this year compared to Wall’s numbers last year.

Wall is ever so slightly better in some areas and worse in others. Regardless of the numbers (which you see are nearly identical) his playstyle is nearly exactly the same as Westbrook’s. He has the same salary as Westbrook. He brings the same baggage as Westbrook.

If it was just a clean one-for-one flip then sure, go for it. Westbrook is obviously not working and there would be no harm in just trying someone new out. But that was not the case. The Lakers would have had to include the team’s first-round pick in 2027 to get that done.

Even if the trade was just a pick swap it would not have made sense for the Lakers. With the current status of the franchise who knows how good the Lakers will be in five years. That pick could very well be in the top five! And five years down the line we would’ve been thinking about the inconsequential Westbrook for Wall swap that did nothing as the reason why the Lakers didn’t have their pick.

It is too big of a risk to take when the deal doesn’t really accomplish anything. Of course, LeBron does not care about the picks because he probably won’t be in the league in five years. Why should he care?

Compounding a bad move with yet another bad move is the last thing that a team should do in this situation. Thankfully, Rob Pelinka held strong to the pressure and did not make yet another mistake.