Absurd hurdle that may have kept Lakers from trading Russell Westbrook
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers tried hard all offseason to trade Russell Westbrook before the 2022-23 season but alas, it was not meant to be. Westbrook is still on the team as we head into the preseason and it will be interesting to see what his future with the team entails.
Perhaps the most talked-about trade (once the Kyrie Irving trade was dead) was a deal with the Indiana Pacers. Los Angeles would trade Russell Westbrook and two first-round picks to the Pacers for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. It never happened, though, as LA did not want to part ways with two picks.
On Monday, NBA insider Shams Charania emptied his journal and broke down how close the Lakers were to actually making this trade. It was a real consideration, so much so that our theory that the team moved Rob Pelinka and Darvin Ham’s media day press conference back because of a possible trade was true; we just had the wrong trade in mind.
It obviously did not happen and there was a potential hurdle that may have stopped the trade from happening. According to the report. the Lakers wanted some second-round picks in return to help offset the value they were trading for Turner and Hield. That did not go over well.
"“Sources add that the Pacers, despite the Lakers’ wishes, made it clear they were not interested in sending second-round picks in a potential deal. With the price of landing Turner and Hield higher than the Lakers’ liking, they had hoped for second-round compensation as a way of increasing their return.”"
If this is true and is truly why the deal ended up not happening, then it has to be the most absurd reason for two teams to not objectively improve their situations in recent NBA history.
The Lakers would be foolish to be caught up over second-round picks.
It is not an unreasonable thing for the Lakers to ask for second-round picks in return in this deal. After all, this is definitely the best draft capital that the Pacers can get for Turner and Hield and adding Westbrook’s contract just to buy him out doesn’t really change much for the Pacers.
If anything, the Pacers potentially being stubborn and not wanting to take this package because of the second-round picks is bad roster management. These are the most valuable picks they will get for these two players and will be far better than an extremely late first-round pick that the team might get from a contender.
All that being said, if the Lakers were willing to make the trade if they were getting 1-2 second-round picks in return, but weren’t willing to do the trade if they weren’t, then what are we doing here? Is the team really going to let two draft picks in the high-30s/low 40s really keep them from making this trade?
Los Angeles has given out second-round picks like they are candy in the past, literally trading one just so another team would take Marc Gasol’s contract off the Lakers’ hands. They obviously have not valued them that much before, but now they are the sticking point for a potential Westbrook deal. That makes absolutely no sense.
At this point, I hope the Lakers would have said no even if there was a pick or two attached because at least then they would be consistent. But if that really changed the team’s mind it is a problem.