The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled out of the gate to start the 2022-23 season. An 0-4 start and some pretty horrendous basketball has every Lakers fan disappointed as they wait for a potential Russell Westbrook trade.
A Westbrook trade could end up turning the season around for the Lakers but it also could end up being a bad thing. If this roster doesn’t prove that they can actually win some games then there is no point in trading assets away to get Westbrook off the books. They will lose in the first round, anyway.
In a perfect world, the Lakers would be able to trade Westbrook and only attach one future first-round pick to him. While that currently seems unlikely, the ever-changing landscape of the NBA could benefit the Lakers, especially as teams start to bottom out for a chance at Victor Wembanyama.
One of those teams is the Utah Jazz, who have started with a miraculous 4-1 record. It might be painful to watch a team like Utah actually win games but that is exactly what Lakers fans should be rooting for.
Why Lakers fans should be rooting for the Utah Jazz to keep winning:
As well as the Jazz are playing early on, this is not a team that is going to make noise in the playoffs and even they know it. There is a reason why Danny Ainge dismantled the team and started over this offseason and that reason was not to win 40 games and sneak into the playoffs via the play-in.
The more Utah wins games the more they are going to be looking to consolidate the talent on the roster and improve their chances of getting the first overall pick. To do that, they may have to trade some talented role players for someone who they know is not going to lead to many wins.
Enter Russell Westbrook. Utah could trade 2-3 of its promising role players to the Lakers for Westbrook. If the team is so desperate to tank for Wembanyama, the asking price for Westbrook might be lower. Instead of two first-round picks, the Lakers might be able to get it done for one.
Heck, if Utah gets desperate enough it would not be surprising to see them get a deal done for just a pick swap. That would take a lot of desperation out of the Utah side of things but with how great the top of this draft is, I would not be totally surprised.
Lakers would have perfect young role player if not for this trade mistake
The Jaden McDaniels deal has come back to bite the Los Angeles Lakers in ways Rob Pelinka could not have possibly imagined.
Right now the Lakers are the desperate team with the asset that nobody wants, making it extremely hard to make any sort of deal that makes sense. If the right outcomes happen, Los Angeles could end up doing business with a team that is even more desperate.