Lakers rumors: Russell Westbrook reportedly wants out of LA

The Los Angeles Lakers quickly realized their mistake in trading for Russell Westbrook in the offseason as Lakers rumors around the team shopping him before the trade deadline quickly emerged. However, nothing came to fruition.

Westbrook was locked into the Lakers for the rest of the season. Laker fans who want Westbrook out of LA had to then turn their focus to the offseason, where the Lakers could try and execute a salary-dump trade to get him off the books.

The Lakers are not the only party that wants Westbrook out of LA according to recent Lakers rumors. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, there is mutual interest between Westbrook and the Lakers in finding him a new home in the offseason.

"“In any case, there is mutual interest in finding Westbrook a new home this summer, sources said. “"

These Russell Westbrook Lakers rumors are fantastic for Laker fans.

This might not seem like a big deal for the Lakers but it really is. Westbrook showing a mutual interest in wanting to get out of LA is going to make the process extremely easy, and if the Lakers are lucky, they could try and hardball the former MVP.

This likely is not going to happen but Westbrook can still dictate his own future. He has a player option this offseason for $47.1 million. He is not going to get anywhere close to that kind of money in free agency, so the smart business decision is to stay in LA.

However, Westbrook is not someone who lacks self-confidence and may think that he is going to get more than he really will (looking at you, Dennis Schroder). He is also someone who has made a lot of money in his career. If he hates being in LA so much, perhaps he just makes the better basketball decision, even if it does not make sense business-wise.

It is a far-fetched idea but the Lakers can try and push him in that direction, expressing to him that trading him this summer would be impossible. Not only that, but the Lakers could try and bench Westbrook for the rest of the season to further push him towards that decision.

Fischer outlined in the same report that Westbrook never showed openness to being benched and we know that it upset him earlier in the season when he was benched in crunch time. Maybe it is time for Vogel to sit Westbrook down, not play him the rest of the year and communicate that he won’t play next year, either.

It is dirty business but the Lakers have to do what is best for the team at the end of the day. Just knowing that Westbrook himself wants out of LA gives the team at least some leverage that they did not have before.