A realistic Russell Westbrook trade with the Knicks the Lakers can offer
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to offload Russell Westbrook by any means necessary this offseason. It seemed like the team was destined for a Kyrie Irving trade but as trade talks there have stalled, the optimism around a deal has waned.
There are other routes that the Lakers could take, including lumping themselves into a bigger trade involving a different all-star guard. Los Angeles could include themselves in a potential Donovan Mitchell trade to the New York Knicks.
League sources told Marc Stein during Summer League in Las Vegas that he should keep an eye on the Knicks and Lakers working on a Westbrook deal if New York can bring Mitchell to town. That instantly got many people thinking that New York would take on Russ to run a three-guard lineup of Westbrook, Mitchell and Jalen Brunson.
That is not at all what the Knicks would be doing as they would be worse off with Westbrook playing in Madison Square Garden. Instead, the Knicks working with the Lakers and getting Westbrook involved can help the team facilitate a trade with the Jazz.
A realistic Russell Westbrook trade package that involves the New York Knicks:
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Julius Randle, Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier
Utah Jazz receive: Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, Detroit 2023 first-round pick, Washington 2023 first-round pick, Knicks 2024, 2026, 2028 first-round picks, 2027 first-round pick swap
New York Knicks receive: Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Lakers future second-round pick
There are a lot of moving pieces in this trade and most notably, the Lakers are not shipping out a first-round pick in this deal. This is a lot to take in, so on the following pages, we will break down why the Los Angeles Lakers could say yes to this trade as well as both the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks.