7:18pm: The Wizards and Lakers have agreed to terms on a Westbrook trade, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
In addition to Westbrook, the Lakers will receive a 2024 second-round pick and a 2028 second-rounder in exchange for Kuzma, Harrell, Caldwell-Pope, and the No. 22 pick.
Reports have suggested that the trade isn’t viewed as a precursor a deal involving Beal, who still reportedly wants to remain with the Wizards.
4:49pm: Confirming that the Lakers and Wizards are moving toward a Westbrook deal, Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times tweets that there are still ongoing discussions between the two teams about the draft assets involved — the Wizards could end up sending the Lakers a second-round pick, says Turner.
Meanwhile, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweets that a deal may not be officially completed until the new league year begins next week. It could grow into a larger multi-team trade during free agency, Fischer suggests.
4:30pm: The Lakers and Wizards are nearing a deal to trade Westbrook for Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope, Harrell, and L.A.’s No. 22 overall pick, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). However, Woj cautions that no agreement is in place yet (Twitter link).
4:20pm: The Lakers and Wizards are engaged in discussions about a possible trade that would send Southern California native and former UCLA star Russell Westbrook back home, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As Charania explains, Westbrook would like to be moved elsewhere and the Lakers are his preferred landing spot. The two teams are talking about a deal that would involve Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell, according to Charania (Twitter link), who says the Lakers’ No. 22 pick could also be in play.
The Lakers have also discussed those players and their first-round pick with the Kings in conversations about a possible Buddy Hield trade. It’s hard to see how L.A. would be able to acquire both Westbrook and Hield, so if both Sacramento and Washington are on board with working toward a deal, the Lakers will have to choose which player to pursue.
It sounds for now like Westbrook is the Lakers’ primary focus, according to Charania (Twitter link), who classifies the club’s talks with the Wizards as “serious.”
The Lakers were linked to Westbrook last week, as the team is in the market for a play-making point guard to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If they’re able to complete a deal for Westbrook, it would reduce the Lakers’ need to re-sign Dennis Schröder, though it wouldn’t necessarily create any additional cap obstacles to doing so.
As for the Wizards, if they move forward with trading Westbrook, the big question will be how it affects Bradley Beal, who was rumored to be mulling his future this past week. For what it’s worth, Caldwell-Pope is very close friends with Beal, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggests (via Twitter) that the Wizards’ goal would be to keep Beal, using the trade to create some future cap flexibility to continue adding talent around him.
The window is closing. Time to go all in. The salary cap don’t matter in LeBron world.
Then plan involves sending out salaries too, as required by the CBA. The Lakers will lack depth though, as does your concept of NBA trading.
2022-23 season
Lakers 3 big stars $130 million
Tax line $140 million
All in on Westbrook? No thanks
Your watching it close right now! Lakers fans are going to love Westbrick and the no spacing party while losing all the depth and non-minimum players on the roster.
Do they really think the pitch is that good for ring chasers on the vet min?
Ah yes a team with LeBron James, AD and Westbrook window is closing. The cope is strong tonight.
37, Brittle, massively empty stats and no shooting. Oh and they just traded all the spacing out of town…
Better pick up than Buddy Hield. But man, I put the over/under on the implosion of egos in LA somewhere around Valentine’s Day.
idk how this helps lakers. westbrook is a poor shooter and they lose 2-3 players especially KCP whos one of their better defenders. Buddy is one of the worst defenders
LeBron likes All Stars. LeBron does not like role players. Simple as that.
Silly impression or legit comment?
I think this is actually one of the few places that make sense for Russ, salaries notwithstanding. Lebron and Russ are getting older, so splitting up the ball handling between the two could help keep them fresh.
Westbrook is still a horrible shooter, though, so if I’m the Lakers and salary doesn’t matter, I would try to pick up someone like Bullock. With Lebron, Westbrook, and AD drawing defenders in, a 3 and D guy like Bullock could feast. He wouldn’t need to do anything except defend and park himself at the three point line and wait.
Yup, may get a ticket out there
I got Aug 2nd in the office pool for when Laker fans start calling for Kyle Korver
I actually might prefer keeping KCP and getting Hield for Kuz and Harrell.
Lakers need spacing. And Russ is going to hurt not help in that regard.
Also, RWB is at that inflection age where, as an athlete-first guard, the cliff is looming. Guys like Lowry and CP3 have aged into their mid-30’s largely because of their shooting prowess and IQ. Russ loses another step he’s going to be sub-starter level.
Lakers have offered Kuzma at least 10 times in 2 days
Only 10? They should be doing everything they can to unload Kuzma. I just can’t stand seeing him on the court. That said, I have a hard time imagining Westbrook fitting in well with Lebron and Davis, as far as a superstar player is concerned. I am open to being wrong and happily surprised, though. At the very least, it should be interesting if this trade is completed.
From what I’ve heard Bradley Beal and his decision to stay or go hinges a lot on what happens to Russell Westbrook. If the Wizards are trading Westbrook away, does that mean Beal is coming to San Francisco? And perhaps even today?
Dominoes falling in DC… Bertans should be kept then, for firepower.
Highly unlikely
Beal wants super max
Actually I think Beal and WSN are better off with that package than they were with Russ. I could see them building the team off this deal and adding more.
Agree w/ Marty here than WSN is actually better with depth as opposed to Russ.
Yet even with that they still have no path to being better than a 6 seed. The time to trade Beal is now. Shepherd needs to realize that ASAP.
You can make an argument w/ Dame in PDX because of their relative success. WSN w/ Beal has just been bad. He’s the face of the franchise … but the franchise stinks. Get the motherload while you can.
LeSuperteam is a joke, he needs to bring in superstars cause he can’t win himself yet he has the audacity To go around calling himself the goat. It’s time for him to retire, and based of his space jam preformance there isn’t a career in acting awaiting him. Maybe he can try politics since he supposedly knows so much better then everyone else in are world.
Awww. Does athlete Lebron James make you mad, Luke Nowak?
Where’s this anger coming from? I assume from your last sentence that you don’t support his politics and thus you hate everything about him for no reason. He has donated and done more for communities than you could/would even think about.
No it comes from disliking his basketball game, witch then leads me to dislike the rest of him
Ohhh, great logic. Get off the NbA hooprumors page lol
Why cause you own it? Plenty of people don’t like Lebron, he flops often, gets calls from refs, gets away with things other players wouldn’t, often complains and whines about things that don’t go his way, always teams up with super teams instead of winning himself, acts very arrogant going as far as calling himself the goat something brady or Jordan never did, can be a bad teammate as seen with Kuz, often thinks his opinion is more valid because he’s a famous athlete. And lastly he used to be the best player in the nba, making him an easy enemy/villain for everyone who roots for another team
I don’t even know where to start with your comment. So I won’t. You go on harting, and he will go on as being a HoFer who will always be in the GOAT conversation.
I dislike Lebron, slot people dislike certain players. I don’t like him as a person or a player, I respect his game tho.
You need to lay off the slots and stop blaming Lebron for your financial woes.
don’t read to much into nowak’s player’s rankings, he thinks brian hoyer is still a starter in the nfl.
So you should also dislike the games of a lot of the league’s top players, then. Because a lot flop, like to whine, like to talk, and hold a supreme amount of confidence.
That’s true there other players, I don’t like cp3 at all, but lebron has more factors mainly him essentially being a GM on his team, and also the fact that he had such a devoted fan base who constantly call him the goat and bandwagon to whatever team he’s on
“Goat” did not exist in Jordan’s day, except as an insult. Now it’s part of culture, like waving a forefinger meaning #1. Did Jordan think he was the best?— yes. Is he humble now?— no.
No Jordan has been asked in more recent inte views and he says he doesn’t like being called the goat cause there’s so many other greats like Kobe.
I doubt MJ can even say “goat” without laughing at the term and the action-figure sentiment behind it.
You think he or Kobe or Wilt are humble smh.
There was some sense in the OP— he has often played the villian, and that will not decrease with Westbrook, even tho RW tips big.
Maybe Westy will get LJ to complain less.
I don’t think they were super humble, Mj was often cocky during his time but they respected other greats and acknowledged there skill.
Then hate them lol. Don’t put it all on him. Casuals always gonna bandwagon no matter what.
Sure, the GM stuff is annoying but teams have willingly let him get away with it so they’re not blameless.
I’m not saying I love the guy for various reasons. But I don’t quite hate him either.
I don’t actually hate him, hate is a strong word, I just dislike him and it’s fun to dislike people who are the best.
Which*. He’s a man so he’d have to be a wizard or warlock.
I LOVE it when people like you make statements like this. Of course a professional athlete worth over half a billion dollars has donated more money than any of us could possibly imagine. Donating his time? Meh, not as much as you LBJ fanboys probably think. But you keep being you, LeBron still ain’t gonna reply to your tweets of admiration.
Exactly the amount he donates compared to how much he owns is probably similar or less to what I and many other people have done, it’s a lot easier to fork away thousands when your as rich as him
LeBron has done a lot for a lot of people, Your comments are a little too personal. LJ donates money, builds schools, gets his guys paid, speaks up for social justice, its not only about basketball my friend. Keep the comments to basketball please.
Now talking about the potential trade, I know LB likes to bring up the ball, how will this work with Russ? They are losing dept and they are aging quickly, this might not work out. Time will tell
This was in response to people saying lebron donated and helped a lot of people, of course it’s great he does help people out and a lot of people wouldn’t, just pointing out to the lebron fans who make it sound like he’s doing something heroic.
Got to love the hypocrisy of Luke Nowak criticizing anyone for whining since that is all he really doing here.
I mean I don’t like Lebron cause he whines, I’m perfectly ok with you not liking me cause i complain. Actually you probably don’t like me, just like I don’t like Lebron.
lebum cant win without superteams. i hope clippers or warriors go all in and get someone like Lillard or Beal and c0ckblock them lmao
So…Lebron can’t win without superteams, so other teams should make a superteam to beat him? You LeBron haters are hilarious.
anything is better than helping the Lakers and Lebron get richer and richer while trading their bum players. u bronsexuals are a special breed
Preach
You realize his age and how long he’s played right? Guys one of the greatest, personally wouldn’t say he is the greatest but he’s top 3 for sure. Of course he needs help, he can’t carry a team at his age and with miles he has on those legs/knees. Nobody could. The face he can still be one of the best players in the league still at his age and how long he’s played is pretty amazing actually.
aww poor lebum, he needs Westbrook,KD,Curry cause he cant get it done. GOAT! lmao
KCP Kuz Harrell and 22
Try and package 15 and 22 to move up for Mitchell or stay and take Cooper and Mann at 15 22
Use mid level on another PG maybe Caruso ?
Still a playoff team
Might be fun watching LeBron yelling at Westbrook for being a ball hog. Come on man why don’t you pass it instead of shooting bricks??
Tonight is gonna be fun.
I’m cooking up some Jiffy Pop on the stove.
Jiffy Pop is one of the few things I remember fondly from the 70s. I loved that stovetop style with the inflating aluminum as a kid.
Hell yeah. Keep it shaking and moving so you don’t burn it.
I still burnt mine every time anyway.
Would much rather have Westbrook than Hield but from what I’m reading it sounds like a Hield deal is basically done and could be agreed to soon. I hope they can pull this one off for Westbrook instead but not sure, sounds like it’s Hield. I guess it’s an upgrade either way though. Kuzma has gotta go.
I’m thinking Westbrook is a done deal. Wizards starting over. Bradley Beal to the Warriors as well. Going to be epic tonight with major moves. Wonder where Simmons will wind up and all the other stuff happening tonight.
3 team deal??
lmao lebron needs more help!! jesus this is like the 10th all star he’s played with. Westbrick cant shoot and they lose one of their better defensive guys in KCP
The spacing on this team is gonna be awful LOL
So who can Lakers sign and trade Schroder for ?
Can’t trade for DeRozan because of hard cap
3 stars $110 million plus
HAhahahaahahah YESS PLEASE DO THIS HahahahahAHAHAHAHA
Wow! Guess the report of Hield was wrong. I love it! Been a huge Westbrook fan his entire career and personally don’t understand the hate the guy gets at all. He’s a future HOF player easily. I will absolutely be buying his jersey, I don’t even own a LeBron or AD jersey but I’m so pumped on him being a Laker I gotta get one. Of course people are gonna hate on it and say it won’t work but I think they are wrong. LeBron isn’t the same player, the Lakers needed to make this move and get AD another star IMO. Not saying LeBron is washed, he’s still good, still better than a lot of players in the league but he’s just not the same as he was his last round in Cleveland, age creeping up on him, it happens so Lakers had to get someone a little younger, someone more durable to play alongside AD. I think AD & Westbrook are gonna be a great duo.
AD better work on those 3s! Somebody shoot before Westy does!
Fun fact or close to it, Westbrook leades all American-borns in rebounding.
Westbrook to LA ……. Love to see this. Best move Lakers can make. I’m a Westbrook guy. DGAF about the Lakers. This will make them a serious contender next yr. Please do it.
This goes down. Means a full rebuild. So BEAL is Next.
“So Beal is next.”
Yes :)
This did not age very well. I went from cloud nine to Cloud -9 in about 10 minutes. They’re saying Beal will stay in DC for now. Okay now what?
Draft didn’t even start yet. No Westbrook no Beal trust me. Washington will never get more for Beal than now
Westbrook makes like 40 mill a year.. those three guys add up to 40 mill? This will backfire for both teams IMO (although getting out of of the John Wall contract like this is a win for the wiz)
Money don’t got game. Stop it
I guess the GOAT needs another star
The GOAT retired years ago
I’m hardly LeBron’s biggest fan, but y’all acting like the dude isn’t 36. Of course the guy needs more help. Nothing wrong with that.
And this makes sense from LA’s perspective. They are in win-now mode. They should be doing everything they can to bring in the most amount of immediate talent.
Of course, I hope it ends in another playoff failure nonetheless.
Schroader sign and trade to Wiz for Bertans
Lakers use mid level on Bullock
Westbrook Bullock LeBron Bertans AD
Pretty sure if this trade is possible it will hard cap the Lakers and they will only be able to sign minimum contracts. That happened to the Heat the year they got Butler
They ll have no problem filling out roster w min guys
But they couldn’t sign and trade nor use the MLE on anyone.
They won’t be hardcapped since it’s not lakers receiving signed and trade player. Heat were hard capped because Butler was a sign and trade for Richardson.. lakers have mle and vet mins and can still sign caruso and tht
lmao the defense on that team would be awful
Something isn’t adding up to me… Westbrook makes 44 mill… Kuzma makes 13, Harrell Makes 10, Pope makes 13…. 44 and 36 do not match.. nor is that within 15%…. this trade literally cannot happen as reported?
Does the pick count for anything?
Not that I’m aware of.. and if it does.. it’s not 8 mill lol
25% – not sure where you got 15% from.
ok…. 25% of 44 mill is still not possible in this deal… but I’d need clarification on that.. I always heard the gap was 15%
The rule for salary-matching for amounts that high is you have to get within 25% + $100K. Here’s our glossary entry on that: link to hoopsrumors.com
In this case, it breaks down as follows:
$13,038,862 (KCP) + $13,000,000 (Kuzma) + $9,720,900 (Harrell) = $35,759,762
$35,759,762 x 125% (+$100K) = $44,799,702.50
Enough to accommodate Westbrook’s salary of $44,211,146.
Thanks
I’m not a fan of Westbrick, at all. But this would be a GREAT DEAL for LAL. The only significant assets they’re giving up are #22 and a boatload of cap space (34 mm) in a single year, 22/23. They’re jettisoning three contracts that I’m sure they’d rather not have, and saving cap space in 23/24.
Pelinka has earned his annual salary if he brings this one home on these terms. Can’t acquire any S&T’d player, or use of the full MLE, but can resign/ match on THT and use the Txp-MLE. Can do a S&T (outgoing) with DS.
What about Caruso? Gone?
No, I didn’t mean to leave him out. Basically there is no hard cap with this deal, so they can sign all their own FA’s pursuant to Bird, EB or NB rights. Subject, of course, to ownership paying the tax.
To those who say the lakers lack depth after this. Kuzma is nothing he’s a waste of air on the Lakers specifically: Harrell was out of rotation. Kcp is okay. Give me Russell Westbrook all day over those 3
Yes pull the trigger, but depth was worsened not addressed.
Wait till Monday… I’m sure a boatload of veterans will be lined up ready to sign. Depth won’t be a problem for long.
Melo, ariza, mclemore, these players for vet min. Also, they can maybe resign drummond.. Or bring back dwight!
This won’t work. Westbrook is an Alpha who needs to have the ball in his hands at all times. Lebron too. I can’t picture team-killer Westbrook simply agreeing to be the 3rd option on this team. This in all likelihood will destroy team chemistry.
LJ defers to AD and will to RW too. The issue will be AD and RW.
RW is an early-offense scorer and LJ is a late-offense scorer. If RW can drive for a score early, nobody will say wait. But RW will have to get out of the habit of hoisting late… So his efficiency stats should benefit.
Meant LJ is a late-offense scorer… I think AD is too.
RW will have take-over opportunites, to keep that urge happy, with possible star injuries and lack of depth.
Correct x –
Schroeder was an early clock scorer and they loved him for it = They don’t want to work on every possession so that’s how I think this potentially works
They will have to find their flow then re-arrange come playoffs again
They don’t technically have to play together for much of the game. First few mins of each half, and the rest is up to Vogel to adjust.
You’ll don’t respect Westbrook enough. He is the one who will bring home the trophy. Bron at 37 will only assist him. He knows it. AD knows it. Time to wake up on Westbrook. He don’t need to shoot. So stop all the Nonsense. He will get his 25 and 10 and 10. Not a Laker alive or Dead that can claim that. Stop the hate please.
Yup. It’s more like a AD/RW super duo with ultimate master splinter in LBJ. Gonna be fine.
Isn’t the lack of good shooters one of the Lakers’ biggest issues? How does Westbrook help them? What am I missing?
Isn’t Westbrook making like $30 mil? Imagine giving up all that for a negative value.
Try 47 mil
That’s nuts. What a bad trade for the Lakers.
Well the Lakers will be interesting to watch if nothing else. Might be like watching a train wreck but it will be interesting.
OK …….. love it
Beal is next. Warriors might be getting him. Only other team that got value for him are the Hawks. Hawks got no basketball
I believe the reports stating Beal will remain with the Wizards, (at least until next year). I don’t think it’s a wise move for him if he wants to compete for a championship, but, apparently he really values staying with his original team. Similar to Lillard, who also will never compete for a championship with his original team.
I think it’s more on Wizards. He’ll never be more valuable than now. It’s a rebuild dude. Why would he want to stay. Why would you want to keep him. It’s the wise move for all.
I’m going to remember all the Westbrook haters.
I see you forever now.
westbrook’s my favorite player in the nba, ever since i was watching him at ucla with my pops. it’ll be great for him to finally be at home.
Law people…get me that restraining order, right stat now!
It will be very difficult to add enough quality depth around them when you’re limited to using the Taxpayers MLE and minimum salary exception to sign free agents.
Pelinka doesn’t care.
He didn’t learn anything from AD’s injury wiping out their chance at a championship.
He’s doubling down on his bet.
The Lakers are probably better off with Rich Paul as their GM.
Take a number if you want to be a Laker now. Vets are already lining up for a ring.
Interesting. This can be a nice trade with LeBron dishing.
So, will this get DC to keep or move Beal is the question.
Respect for Trez for ultimately making this happen
I wouldn’t have blamed him for telling the FO to shove it and turned off his phone till Saturday
Great job Wash flipping Wall into pretty much a + asset in 12 months! I actually think this strengthens Beal staying
For LAL – Let’s see in a week or 2 , I thought Westy would go to Clippers for less of a package . Im still in shock, was hoping there was any kind of legs to the Kuzma+ for DD reports earlier w SAS. I like that he rebounds tho, we were middle of the pack last year and our guards were a big reason why (lack of) on the glass
Bye bye Dennis
Weird… I thought LeBron wanted to win another title…
I like Westbrook as a player but he does not fit next to AD and Lebron. This will force AD more to the perimeter to make space for Westbrook and Lebron . Also Westbrook needs a fast break play which will not suit Lebron ( At this age) and AD fragile body. They should of pushed to get Lowry a better fit in my opinion .