The biggest story surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason is a potential Kyrie Irving trade. The Brooklyn Nets seem to be self-imploding with the Lakers being the only team interested in trading for Kyrie because of the team’s ability to flip Russell Westbrook in the process.
There is a chance that a trade with the Nets falls through, though, and it seems like the Lakers are preparing for that possibility. Sources told ESPN’s Dave Mcmenamin that the Lakers are engaged not just in trade talks with the Nets, but the Indiana Pacers as well. Both trades involve Russell Westbrook.
Things are different for the Pacers now than they were at the start of an offseason and a potential Westbrook trade at this point might be much more favorable for LA than it seemed to be two months ago. Based on what Indiana has, it is pretty easy to build out what a Westbrook trade with the Pacers would look like.
The most likely Russell Westbrook trade package to the Indiana Pacers:
In theory, Los Angeles would be able to pull off a two-for-one swap, sending Westbrook to Indiana and getting Buddy Hield and Myles Turner in return. With this being such a polarizing potential trade, there are likely fans in both fanbases that want to get more (or send less) in this potential trade.
However, at the end of the day, this is an absolutely fair trade for both sides and is one that both teams probably should make if the Nets trade falls through. In the following pages, we will break down why both the Lakers and the Pacers could say yes to this Russell Westbrook trade.