5. Los Angeles Lakers trade Russell Westbrook to San Antonio Spurs
Do you want to know what a true salary-dump trade would look like? Here it is. The San Antonio Spurs are a team that has cap space and can bring in Russell Westbrook would sending as much salary in return. They are also a team that is going to actively be bad this year in pursuit of the first overall pick and Victor Wembanyama.
In this trade, the Lakers would be saving $21.1 million against the cap and actually are not sending that many picks in return. While San Antonio would obviously push for more, the Lakers moving Westbrook for just one first-round pick would be a huge win for the team.
However, this is the case of the Lakers not getting anyone of note. Josh Richardson is a fine three and D guy but he is no better than Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was for the Lakers. Doug McDermott is also fine but doesn’t move the needle, either.
Unfortunately, this is the kind of trade that fans should be worried about the front office making; a trade that saves the multi-billion dollar franchise the most money and sends the least amount of picks in return.
The front office would dress this up as a huge win because they got Westbrook out of LA but in reality, the team cannot pitch that they are trying to win a championship if this is the trade they make.
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As crazy as it sounds, it would be better to just keep Westbrook in LA and see if a better deal presents itself at the deadline.
Verdict: Pass