The 2022-23 NBA season is about to get underway and a lot is going to happen in those 82 games. The Los Angeles Lakers enter the season with perhaps the most variability because of the wild card that is Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook’s best days are certainly past him and even if things aren’t going horribly, the team will end up trading him if there is a good offer on the table. No other team is going to want to trade for Westbrook, but the Lakers could get good assets in exchange for an expiring contract and two future first-round picks.
The best deal LA could do before the season was for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, which the team did not want to do. While that seems silly to some, perhaps the Lakers are waiting knowing they could get a potential all-star in return for Westbrook later in the season. The NBA is crazy and depending on what happens, new faces could become available.
Here are 3 all-stars that the Lakers could end up trading for:
1. Draymond Green
We will get the most obvious one out of the way. Draymond Green’s future with the Golden State Warriors is unclear and there absolutely is a world in which the Warriors end up trading Green. Golden State is not going to want Westbrook, but the Lakers could try to work out a three-team deal that gets them an asset instead.
Draymond has done so much for the Warriors that they might be willing to trade him to a preferred destination. If so, the Lakers are going to be high on Draymond’s list, at least according to Stephen A. Smith.
Green is not a great Xs and Os fit on the Lakers but he has a great relationship with LeBron James and that is all you really need for the Lakers to make a potentially silly move of trading Westbrook for one of the few all-stars that might actually fit worse than him.