Could the Lakers pull off a surprise Russell Westbrook trade?

3. Charlotte Hornets

This is another potential Westbrook destination that was talked about earlier in the offseason and has since fizzled out. While there has not been a lot of talk about Westbrook going to Charlotte, there still is a potential offer there for the Lakers to explore.

This might be the only way the Lakers could trade Westbrook and only have to trade one first-round pick as well. Charlotte has two multi-year contracts that they definitely should want to get off of and the Lakers would actually be doing them a favor and would be giving them the pick.

This trade package is pretty ugly, but this is the position that the Lakers have found themselves in because of the mistakes they have already made.

Quite frankly, as bad as Westbrook is, this is a trade that the Charlotte Hornets should be asking to make. Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier are making more combined than Westbrook is this season with Hayward under contract for another season and Rozier under contract for three more years.

Charlotte is not going anywhere with those players as Rozier is overpaid and Hayward is injury-prone. This would be a good way to not only hit the reset button but get some buzz in Charlotte as well. As bad as he is, you know that Charlotte fans would convince themselves of Westbrook playing under Michael Jordan as some great moment.

This is not a good trade for the Lakers as it puts them in more financial trouble in the future. In the absolute best-case scenario the Lakers could contend for a title if Rozier and Hayward buy in and stay healthy but there is such a small chance of that happening.

Darvin Ham has an absurd lineup idea in mind for the Los Angeles Lakers

Darvin Ham has an absurd lineup idea for the Los Angeles Lakers if the team cannot trade Russell Westbrook that simply will not work.

But because it would likely only take one pick, we cannot rule this out if the team is being stingy with its future draft picks.