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.
2. Kristaps Porzingis
Again, Kristaps Porzingis might not seem like someone who the Lakers would want to trade for but it never seemed likely that they would want to trade for Russell Westbrook. The Lakers can certainly talk themselves into someone like Porzingis, especially if they are getting support from LeBron and Anthony Davis.
First, let’s touch on the path that would get the Wizards to trade for Westbrook in the first place. Even with Bradley Beal and Porzingis the Wizards are not in a place to be much better than a play-in team. With Victor Wembanyama looming, Washington may punt on the season halfway through.
Not many teams would want Porzingis in a trade but the Lakers are the exception. What makes this deal intriguing for the Lakers is the potential of only sending one first-round pick to Washington instead of two.
For the Wizards, they want to get worse anyway and they would be saving money next season by moving Porzingis. With those two benefits in mind, the Lakers could absolutely get the price down to one first-round pick for a return of Porzingis and an expiring contract, like Will Barton.
A Porzingis/Davis frontcourt would be extremely intriguing with the things they could do both offensively and defensively as long as both guys stay healthy. Porzingis might not be good enough to be the second-best player on a contending team but as the third-best player, there could be potential.
3. Kyrie Irving
Just because Kyrie Irving was not traded this offseason does not mean a trade is off the table during the season. The Brooklyn Nets are far from being a well-run ship and there absolutely is a path in which the Nets are disappointing and the front office has no choice but to blow it up.
If the team suspects Irving is going to leave anyway then they might as well trade him at midseason if things are not going well. At this point, Brooklyn will have no leverage with Kyrie, meaning the Lakers could probably make a deal happen for only one first-round pick.
Another player would have to be tossed in the package to save money for the Nets (probably Joe Harris) but that should not change things for the Lakers. The team would get to flip Westbrook for a better player who has his issues but has won a championship with LeBron before.
There was speculation that the Lakers could sign Kyrie next summer but that was refuted as Kyrie reportedly is not in the team’s long-term plans. That does not derail a potential trade, though, as the Lakers would remain financially flexible for the summer while having a better chance of contending.
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This is probably the best-case scenario for the Lakers. They would get Kyrie at a cheaper price than they would have gotten him during the summer while accomplishing everything else they want to accomplish as an organization.