Lakers will trade Russell Westbrook if confidential target becomes available

If you weren’t braced for the Los Angeles Lakers’ dreadful start to the season, you simply weren’t paying attention all offseason. Failing to trade Russell Westbrook was one thing, but the Lakers’ offseason pickups always felt like Rob Pelinka was throwing pieces at the wall and hoping they’d stick.

As we sit here through 10 games, the Lakers are 2-8. Only the 2-9 Orlando Magic have a worse record and LA’s -7.9 point differential is second-worst in the league behind the rebuilding Pistons. These are dark times for Lakers basketball, and the only hope for a turnaround falls on the potential of a Westbrook trade.

Incredibly, Westbrook has been one of the team’s better players out of the gates. After a woeful start, Westbrook’s embraced his role coming off the bench, averaging 19.3 points, 5.3 boards and 6.8 assists while shooting an extraordinary (for his standards) 51.3% from the floor and 48.0% on three-pointers.

Of course, the Lakers have to ask themselves if this six-same sample size is sustainable for the remainder of the season. Assuming it isn’t, they might still look to deal Westbrook before the trade deadline.

According to senior NBA writer Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated, the Lakers are waiting for a “bigger piece to come loose,” to trade Westbrook.

The Lakers will reportedly trade Russell Westbrook once an unnamed target becomes available.

This quote from Beck will get Lakers fans excited.

"“I will add one thing without going into all the detail, but I was canvassing a bunch of front office folks last week when I was workshopping my idea of ‘Can the Nets tear down now? Should they just tear down now? What could they reasonably get for Kevin Durant? Could they get anything for Kyrie Irving? Could they get anything at all for Ben Simmons?”“And in those discussions, when I brought up the Lakers, the pushback I was getting was they’re waiting for a specific player. That they’re not doing the Pacer deal, that they won’t do the Kyrie deal now that we for sure thought they would do a couple months ago, is an indication that the Lakers are waiting for a bigger piece to come loose that they think they can trade Westbrook and the two future firsts for.”"

Fans in Los Angeles know how stubborn Pelinka’s been in terms of refusing to part with first-round draft picks. Perhaps there’s a method to the general manager’s madness, as it seems he’s waiting for the perfect deal to present itself.

The question is who might this confidential target be, and neither Beck nor fellow SI writer Chris Mannix offered any guesses. What the two reporters are confident in, however, is that it isn’t one of Kyrie Irving, Myles Turner or Buddy Hield.

All three players were linked with the Lakers throughout the summer, but this report suggests Pelinka is targeting a higher caliber of player … and one who doesn’t come with nearly as much baggage in Irving’s case.

Seems like Los Angeles is waiting for a team’s (or teams’) season(s) to come off the rails. It’s an admirable strategy, but the Lakers might not have the time to wait for this unnamed player to become available if they keep winning at a .200 clip.

It’s just going to require a little more patience from Lakers fans. The silver lining for the time being is that Westbrook is playing good basketball and his trade value has likely catapulted compared to where it was just two months ago.

Any guesses as to whom this player might be, Lakers fans?

3 non-Russell Westbrook trades to beef up the Lakers roster

The Los Angeles Lakers need to improve the roster before it is too late and could potentially do so with these 3 non-Russell Westbrook trades.