Potential Lakers trade sends D’Angelo Russell to Wizards in savvy fashion

The Los Angeles Lakers saved the 2022-23 season when the team traded Russell Westbrook in a package that brought D’Angelo Russell back to LA. While Russell had his flaws, the Lakers were able to get younger, deeper and benefit from addition by subtraction.

While Russell fit better schematically on the roster, some of his low points were on display during the NBA Playoffs. There is a reason why Russell has bounced from team to team and Lakers fans were reminded of that during the playoffs.

Russell is an unrestricted free agent this offseason and instead of letting him walk away for nothing, the Lake Show could try and pull off a sign-and-trade so the team could get something out of him. With that logic in mind, this potential trade package with the Washington Wizards makes a lot of sense.

Why this D’Angelo Russell trade makes sense for the Lakers and Wizards:

For the Lakers, the entire logic behind this trade is not wanting to lose Russell with nothing to show for it. Los Angeles has Bird Rights on Russell and if he straight-up signs elsewhere then the team loses the ability to utilize that “extra” cap space.

However, if the Lakers do not want to bring him back long-term then the team could pivot and find a deal like this. In this specific instance, the Lakers would get a veteran point guard in Monte Morris that can still space the floor (39.2% from three in his career) as well as a young promising big man in Daniel Gafford.

LA would be adding two playoff rotation guys for the price of one, with that one playoff rotation guy having some ugly moments in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

The logic for Washington is built on the team’s desire to contend. Most NBA fans would agree that just adding Russell is not enough. However, as we all know, NBA teams make sometimes questionable moves to improve their chances of contending. This would be an example of that.

If Russell signs a contract similar to Jalen Brunson’s (let’s assume four years, $100 million) and Kristaps Porzingis takes a slight pay cut in favor of signing a long-term deal, the Wizards could bring Russell in while also retaining Kyle Kuzma in free agency (assuming he costs $20 million or less).

If the Wizards were to trade for Russell they would be hard-capped at the luxury tax but with so many rookie contracts on the books, they would be able to pay this “big four” and stay under the tax.

So why wouldn’t the Wizards just sign Russell? Well, the team does not have the cap space to outright sign Russell to the same contract if it is going to retain Kuzma and Porzingis. Freeing up the $22.2 million in salary by sending Morris and Gafford back to LA is the real key here.

It might not seem like that great of a trade for the Lakers considering Russell is a big name and the players coming back are not. But at the end of the day, this would be a great way to not outright lose the asset without having to commit long-term to someone who the team might not be a huge fan of.