On Wednesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers made a fairly significant change to the roster in a splash trade that sent young guns Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for the defensive menace Patrick Beverley.
Beverley only two short years ago was known as a pest to all Lakers fans, who sported the jersey of the team who lives in LA’s basement. Beverley now looks to bring that same fire and enthusiasm to a squad that was severely lacking in that department last season.
While the bolstering of intensity, especially on the defensive end, will be a sight for sore eyes, this move potentially carries more weight under the surface. It seems to many that it could possibly end up being the first domino to fall, eventually resulting in the Lakers finding a Russell Westbrook trade.
For many reasons, it seems that bringing Beverly into this locker room means with near certainty that Westbrook will soon be finding himself a new home.
Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley simply can’t fit together on the Los Angeles Lakers.
One reason Westbrook may see the door soon is that the two guards just simply don’t get along. The two’s history stretches all the way back to 2013 when the two met in the playoffs. The battle between the two high-intensity guards resulted in a torn meniscus for Westbrook, and the relationship was by no means repaired over the years.
The two got even got into a war of words as recently as this past February with Westbrook telling reporters this after the game:
"“Pat Bev trick y’all, man, like he playing defense,” Westbrook said, via ESPN. “He don’t guard nobody, man. It’s just running around, doing nothing. … All that commotion to get 47.”"
While in sports you don’t necessarily have to be friends, that isn’t the only reason we may soon see a Westbrook departure. From the perspective of pure basketball fit, a backcourt comprised of the two makes little to no sense.
Even though we see Beverly boast a 37% career 3-point percentage (now the highest on the team) he’s no Steph Curry, and after last season we clearly know what Russ’ shooting entails. The pairing of the two wouldn’t be pretty, and would severely hinder spacing for the offense.
On the court would be a nightmare and off the court could be even worse. What seals the deal in my mind that Westbrook has played his last game in a Lakers uniform comes in a subtle form of communication from The King that some Lakers faithful have picked up over the last few years.
Before Brandon Ingram was traded, there was a tweet. Before Kyle Kuzma was traded, there was a tweet, and before THT was traded, again a tweet. Thursday morning we saw this from The King:
Can't wait for him to go off this season!! 🤫
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 25, 2022
Lakers should have traded this player instead of Stanley Johnson to Jazz
The Los Angeles Lakers traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Jazz for Patrick Beverley. Johnson should have been replaced with someone else.
Could this be the kiss of death for Westbrook? We’ll have to see.