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Lakers: Why a Russell Westbrook trade at the deadline is most likely

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 27: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on prior to a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena on February 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The New Orleans Pelicans won 123-95. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 27: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on prior to a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena on February 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The New Orleans Pelicans won 123-95. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) /
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2. The Lakers get one last chance to salvage the “big three”

Will the Russell Westbrook-LeBron James-Anthony Davis trio work out? Probably not. As much as we talked ourselves into it last offseason, what we saw on the floor last season does not indicate that much will change next season.

Russell Westbrook did not change the way he played (to the surprise of nobody) and doubled down after the season saying that Frank Vogel had something against him. Westbrook has never really taken the responsibility for his play in the past and as long as he gets a triple-double he doesn’t seem to care.

Instead of trading Westbrook for another bad contract in John Wall (the only offseason trade that makes sense) and having to trade an asset, the Lakers can get one last chance at forcing this to work. While things were not pretty last season, the one thing that the Lakers can tell themselves is that this trio did not play enough with each other because of injuries to learn how to win together.

Perhaps a threat of getting bought out (or outright sent home) if he does not change how he plays will be enough to convince Westbrook to buy into being the third option that plays off of LeBron and AD and not the other way around.

Next. Westbrook and the 10 worst trades in franchise history. dark

Like we said, it probably still won’t work. We have no reason to expect it to. But I would rather see the team take the hail mary chance of it working rather than trade assets away to get another bad contract.

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