The season is officially over for the Los Angeles Lakers which means that the Lakers rumors are starting to flow. Trading Russell Westbrook is the team’s no. 1 goal this offseason and most of the early Lakers rumors are about potential landing spots for the former MVP.
While a lot can still happen between now and when the NBA Finals are over, there are some early candidates based on salary-cap situations and other big contracts that teams might want to shed. The only benefit the Lakers have is that Westbrook is on an expiring deal, so in theory, a team could take him on to shed future money off the books.
A proposed team that could potentially look to do this is the Indiana Pacers. Shams Charania of The Athletic named the Pacers as a potential candidate to trade for Westbrook this summer if the team wanted to shed the future money owed to Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield.
This would be quite the get for the Lakers. A Westbrook for Brogdon and Hield swap works financially and the two would fit on the Lakers far better than Westbrook did. Los Angeles would undoubtedly have to throw in one, if not two, future first-round picks to make this deal, but it might be worth it.
This might seem like a dream scenario for the Los Angeles Lakers and with Shams reporting it, it may seem like a real possibility. However, this very well could be someone from the Lakers camp telling Shams this because when you really think about it, this deal is impossible.
Lakers rumors: This Russell Westbrook to the Pacers trade is impossible.
Just think about it for a second. The Pacers would be trading their best player in Brogdon as well as another asset in Hield for Westbrook just so they could save some money and buy Westbrook out? I know the Pacers are cheap, but c’mon, that is ridiculous.
At the NBA trade deadline, the only offer that the Lakers had for Westbrook was a swap with John Wall, who did not even play this season, in which the Lakers also had to throw in a first-round pick. How does Westbrook’s value go from that to two really solid role players that would fit in LA perfectly?
Sure, the Pacers could look to free up some money in Brogdon and/or Hield but they could get much more if they traded them separately. Westbrook is the absolute floor of what Indiana could get for them.
This is also completely ignoring the fact that the Pacers and Brogdon just agreed to a contract extension in October! Brogdon is the best player on the team and his cap hit over the next three seasons is under $23 million. That is an absolute steal for the quality of player that Brogdon is.
Keep dreaming, Laker fans. This is not a realistic Russell Westbrook trade in the slightest.