It remains to be seen whether or not the Lakers will be able to work out a trade with the Nets for Kyrie Irving, but Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN believes L.A. has at least one more major roster move up its sleeve this offseason, as he stated on Monday during the network’s latest episode of Get Up (video link).
“I think the Lakers will make a deal. Maybe more than one deal,” Wojnarowski said. “It may not be for Kyrie Irving, it may not be for an All-NBA player, an All-Star. But players like Eric Gordon in Houston, Buddy Hield in Indiana, players like Patrick Beverley, who came to the Jazz in a trade from Minnesota, who are role players are winning teams. What is the price for those kind of moves? I think they’re going to continue to be active on all those things.”
As Wojnarowski explains, the Lakers aren’t eager to part with all of their most valuable trade assets for modest short-term upgrades, but they still feel the need to add more talent to the roster to take advantage of LeBron James‘ remaining prime years.
“When LeBron’s putting pressure on the front office, on the organization, teams are asking for a lot to do a deal with the Lakers,” Wojnarowski said. “Rob Pelinka‘s trying to keep from trading the 2027, 2029 unprotected first-round picks that obviously LeBron James doesn’t value greatly because he may not be around. He wants to win now. That’s the balance of being in the front office vs. having to serve the fact that you’ve got LeBron James still playing at an incredibly high level at an age we’ve never seen a player play at that level.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- A potential trade sending Irving to the Lakers is “not completely dead,” per Wojnarowski, but such a deal still hinges in large part on what the Nets do with Kevin Durant. “The Nets are more focused on trying to find a deal for KD before they would even move Kyrie Irving,” Woj said. “I think there’s a good chance that Kyrie Irving is back in Brooklyn to start the season if Kevin Durant is back in Brooklyn.”
- Russell Westbrook‘s public split with his longtime agent doesn’t bode well for the former MVP’s relationship with the Lakers, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, who says that dynamic between Westbrook and the team is becoming “more untenable with each passing week.” League sources tell Buha that the divorce between Westbrook and agent Thad Foucher caught several people around the Lakers by surprise.
- Foucher’s statement, which hinted that Westbrook is seeking another change of scenery, may further hurt the Lakers’ leverage in trade talks, Buha writes. Multiple league sources tell The Athletic that potential trade partners are already asking for at least L.A.’s 2027 or 2029 first-round pick in order to take on Westbrook’s pricey expiring contract.
- Marc Stein says in his latest Substack article that the Knicks and Jazz are viewed by some people around the league as possible landing spots for Westbrook if the two teams complete a Donovan Mitchell trade. Stein explains that the Knicks may be more inclined to trade away Julius Randle and his long-term contract for a big expiring deal like Westbrook’s in that scenario, though it strikes me as a long shot that New York and L.A. would be able to find a mutually beneficial swap involving those two players.
why would the knicks take on westbrook after getting mitchell & signing brunson??
I think it’s to dump Randle’s contract, because while Westbrook is being massively overpaid he’s on an expiring contract. I’m kind of surprised people act like Westbrook is a massive negative value when his expiring contract alone has value to teams trying to unload long term albatrosses.
It’s just Laker hate Hannibal , sub the name for someone else the posters will will flying around the hotbed word “expiring” 6 times per paragraph
Saying that I think Knicks are completely out here unless it was some complex bye bye Randle deal…which I highly doubt (from either side) and he’d be a terrible fit NeXT to Ad Imo
When is the last time a expiring contract on its own brought back anything in trade ? You can’t bc trading for expiring contracts a year early is not how teams clear salary anymore ! Even though it means giving up assets teams can create instant cap savings , the cap space the spurs and pacers have make the Russ expiring extra useless.
John wall had a huge expiring couldn’t get anything back ! Kevin love has a huge expiring won’t get nothing back even though he’s still pretty good ! No at best a expiring contract is useful to match salary with young players and picks in a trade for a star
It’s a bit more complex than that imo Noel and the new cap kinda puts these “timeline trades” in new territory’s. Best to use examples of why other teams (uta/Cha) would do this today
Utah trades Dm to Nyk lets say – They are hunting ping pong balls- What good does an expiring (themselves) Bogs Bev and Beasley do for them besides gain balls in the chute? Why not turn that into Lakers unprotected 27 first rder which Danny loves and gain more balls? You say they can trade them elsewhere, sure but they’d never get the value of that unprotected pick back no matter the combination with those 3 dudes on the market. All picks aren’t created equal, not even close
Cha- Terrible offseason so far, mostly unlucky so they play for 24′ and beyond getting Hayward and maybe Rozier (if they want) off that 24 cap sheet while gaining a 27′ 1st…..might not have been the offseason they wanted 3 months ago but you make lemonade outta lemons if ya have too, get that great pick and have a much much nicer cap sheet for 24′ to build around Ball. They’d have almost 2 maxes avail next offseason or a max and a Bridges discount if it all works out w MB
Fair enough there is probably a deal lakers can make but it won’t be a great one maybe not even a good one ! But I was mostly pushing back on the idea his expiring should be seen as a positive ! Its a negative that rightly has to have at least one first to make appealing to other teams
Def, I hear ya and your points are all valid
Maybe saying a negative asset that can be overcome (easier than most think) is a better way of describing it
*If Rw had one more year attached I agree nobody would even answer the phone
** Agreed also the deals will no way be a boon for LAL as well, they’re behind the 8 ball here wherever they turn so much so they really have to watch their step here or they could get burned worse than they are today .
I wouldn’t even entertain the Cha or Indy deals possibly avail. The Utah Brk potentials at least give them a punchers chance for the toll they pay.
Expiring contracts with little to no player value attached are only valuable to teams with big long-term negative value contracts. There just aren’t very many of those, and no teams I can think of that have $40m of them.
It doesn’t.
LA isn’t interested in adding a massive negative value long term contract.
Westbrook isn’t as bad as it seems..his style just can’t be as a secondary ball handler.. for his main thing is as a facilitator.. and as a shooting point guard.. limiting LeBron and David’s value.. everyone knew this even LA’s front office but they catered to superstars already on the team and found luv why players play and front offices do personnel moves
This sport writer Wojo lives in another reality. How would the Lakers make any trade if they do not want to give up anything of value? Nobody is going to trade them value for nothing coming back. lakers best move is no move at all and just let Westbrook deal expire and reload for 2023 season.
His version of reality is making millions of bucks talking hoops cuz of people like you. He isn’t an all knowing expert.
Your comment makes no sense because I don’t pay him a cent. I would never pay for ESPN plus.
Woj is usually one of the most accurate sportswriters around
The fact you don’t know who Woj is shows you really lack a lot of basketball knowledge
who doesn’t know who Wojo is?
Utah looking more and more likely, especially if they trade DM still
Really think they have reached the “critical to trade Rw ” state that goes far beyond Rw himself
If Irving doesn’t work out Cha and Utah are the last 2 train stops, I don’t like the Indy deal but there’s some good deals to be had for all parties in Cha/Utah deals.
Russ makes more than LeBron yet won’t give up much to unload his huge contract. They’re pretty much stuck with him unless they change their stance. Otherwise, the Nets would’ve likely traded for him already. If it were any other team then people would feel bad for them. They did this to themselves. Best they can hope for is Darvin Ham getting more out of RW this year.
There’s nothing good for Charlotte in taking on Westbrick, and there’s no need to do it. That whole thing started when it was looking like Bridges was going to get a max deal and Charlotte didn’t want to pay the tax. Now things have obviously changed.
App- There’s nothing good for Cha happening in 2023 anyways-
Why not make 24′ and beyond more appeasing?
Not trying to be harsh, I really like Cha and want to see Ball and Co succeed down the road but I see No reason why they wouldn’t want this trade today…especially if they want to move off Roz (debatable) as well.
I’m not even factoring in the MJ likes RW thing as well as it’s pretty nominal grand scheme …it’s a salary gymnastic trade at it’s roots and one that I think serves the organization well long term
There’s a risk to staying stagnant in the current NBA (unless all the pieces are there/not cha) – Building for 2024 isn’t a bad thing IMO
This sounds like fantasy sports trade reasoning where you message other teams that are struggling and tell them how they have no shot, so they should contribute to you winning by giving up their best players…Charlotte giving up Hayward and Rozier for little reason makes very little to no sense…
If I’m them, I do consider trying for Donovan Mitchell with Rozier, Jalen McDaniels, Bouknight, JT Thor, 2023 1st, 2025 1st, 2023 Utah 2nd, but I’m not just giving up on the season. Still need to figure what happens with Bridges, but they can add another option at the 4 to hold it down if need be, and they still have PJ Washington adlnd McDaniels there
LAL will likely keep an eye out for the next mega-deal, and look to move RW for players that are better fits in connection with it. KD being the most obvious, but DM as well. Deals like that create an umbrella under which moving even a contract the size of RW’s more feasible.
The Lakers dont need more guards, although they do need another shooter. I also dont think Indiana is as likely to move Hield right away as I thought before they stretched Stauskas, not that the Lakers should be in on that right now anyway.
Again, they need a 3 and D wing and a scoring/spacing 4 off the bench
How could anyone blame Westbrook for potentially being sick of his situation, as people continue to trash him left and right, and blame him for things that arent his fault, like terrible roster building and usage with players that dont fit, as well as injuries to LwBron James and Anthony Davis, and Kendrick Nunn. Westbrook’s deficiencies wouldnt be nearly as big of an issue if they had shooting around him and LeBron, and if Anthony Davis knocks down shots the way he has in the past. Put shooters, and players that can actually defend the wing, around those 3, and they’re a lot better…
Also, everyone acts as though Westbrook’s contract is some albatross garbage, unmovable deal, with 1 year remaining on it, not 3 or 4
Agree Lebrons never needed a great PG, (makes the Rw trade even worse in hindsight) All he’s ever needed was a Mario Chalmers to play some D, dribble the ball past half-court and hit a wide open standstill 3
3 and D- Everyone needs them , they don’t really exist on the market (look at Dort new $$)
Stretch 4 – Can’t wait to see Swider, perfect fit; tho the meats raw here
Lakers need three 3 and D. (the lowest cost to save tax)
Cam Johnson
Otto Porter
P.J. Washington
And
According to nba TV,
Wiggins is the best 3 and D player in the nba.
If Lakers can make a trade by acquiring three 3 And D, ……
There are still a couple of options left in FA, and also there were some options on other team’s summer league rosters that could help there, though obviously you would prefer a more known commodity, with them already relying so much on Reaves, and even Christie, who is still trying to become more consistent, outside of his corner 3
Swider is more of a spot up shooter, and is useful depth, but I think bringing back Melo would still be useful for them, as he played well for them last year. TJ Warren could have also been an option there before he signed with the Nets, and Jabari Parker is still available as well. Then there are some more spacing type 4s still out there as well, as they have multiple defenders at that spot
I don’t think Christie will get much pt at all/ maybe 10 MPG years end but quite possibly even lower.
I could see Swider have a rotation spot by New Years
There’s a team for Melo still I just don’t think its the Lakers this year. Philly?
TJ went for pt I Imagine, I imagine they (and 20) other teams asked for the min
Current offense is a disaster tho, w/out a trade there was no way in free agency to circumvent that with the limited resources
Well obviously Christie is unlikely to see many minutes, but he is still currently being relied on as a 3 and D wing, just based on the roster. In front of him are Reaves, JTA, and Troy Brown is a playmaking wing. JTA is more of a 4 than a 3, but will be used at the 3, and his shooting isnt as consistent as they need there…so with that being said, they’re currently relying on Christie until they get someone else in front of him
He makes more than LeBron. That by very definition is an albatross contract. The years left only slightly reduces that shock. There’s just no way to move him without a team getting great value back. Paying his huge salary for one late first round pick isn’t what anyone would call a fair market price.
They shouldn’t even be moving him though. That’s my main point. Surround him with players that actually fit their roster instead of blaming him for trash roster construction, constantly bringing in more guards and bigs for no reason, not to mention getting rid of Marc Gasol for DeAndre Jordan, when they already had Dwight Howard, and Rondo when they already had Westbrook, Bradley, THT, and multiple other guards, although Monk ended up mattering b/c Nunn was hurt
Then he is a FA after the season, and they can figure out their roster then, when they have more options to fix the mistakes they’ve made the last couple of years since their championship win
After they made the deal (bad) there was zero avenues of doing that Forms
Nunn and Lonnie were the only 2 play available over the min the last 2 years . While your correct in theory, theres just not the quality amount of players on the min that would fill this roster out appropriately
They had options. They went into last year needing 2 3 and D wings, and then they traded the main 1 they had left, and didnt bring back the other, and brought in Ariza as 1 guy, but he is more of a 4 now, and he was injured most of the year. They could have resigned Wesley Matthews, which would have at least been 1 guy, instead of nothing
Even now, theres a couple of guys still available, plus summer league guys. Instead, as I said, they keep trying to add more guards and bigs
Even this year, why did they use their exception on Lonnie Walker, who I like, but they didnt need his skillset, although I actually like most of what they did this offseason, and am mostly talking about last year, but they have totally ignored the most important position in basketball, that also is extremely important for their roster, with players like Lebron and Westbrook on their team, and a position that was a significant reason they won in 2020, and then wonder why they’re not a good team, so let’s just blame Westbrook, who they traded for…
I mean Wes Mathews or a G league guy isn’t impacting this team
Was Ariza a bad whiff, for sure
But your not getting 3 &D guys on mins
They tryed to specialize things last year with old retreads , awful ofc
This year younger, more athletic more D.. best they can do on mins…
I mean yea my first choice was Otto Porter but he got more money and 3 years so that’s that. I just don’t see where these 3 and D guys would ever come from with the assets we had post RW trade
I haven’t seen enough of Lonnie to be speaking tbh, I assume they see a breakthru candidate in the scoring/creating dept….something that’s going to be sorely needed . His game logs look interesting but again I didn’t watch enough SAS last year or years before to get a read
I blame nothing on RW personally, mgmt. is what got us here and they’ve hid in the shadows a little too much for my personal liking if I’m being honest . I’ll wait a month before my final offseason valuation for the LAl bc it certainly might not be done yet
Abdel Nader, TLC, Tony Snell, Rodney McGruder, Justin Jackson, AJ Lawson, DJ Stewart jr, Ismail Wainright all still available, although there were more options earlier on, and then there are a bunch of summer league guys, although I would have to refer to my list…that being said, maybe they should have targeted a couple of players at that position for their summer league team, instead of all guards and 4s
Wes Matthews could have impacted the team when they didnt have anyone else that can play that spot…I dont know what level of player you’re talking about b/c obviously you arent getting someone like Mikal Bridges, but nobody is saying that’s what is necessary. You need someone that can defend and shoot the 3 off catch and shoots. They have enough defense and playmakers around that where in reality, you might just need wing shooters, and not even necessarily a 3 and D wing, which there are a few more of left in FA as well
Lonnie Walker is a THJ type of player at guard. Nothing against him at all. I like him as a scorer/potential shooter as a combo guard, but they dont need that. They have Kendrick Nunn.
What does this mean?
If Westbrook retires the cap space goes away and they replace him with nothing.
Except a max slot next year emac !
Ah yes. I just looked.
You’ll have AD’S expiring contract and Max Christie.
Bron’s 50 mil cap hold, ADs 40 mil, that’s 90 mil alone.
The only way you can turn brook into a max slot is if you spend a full year of your AD Bron pairing playing roster games and avoiding any good players who have contracts beyond this year.
Unfortunately, you do that and they both leave.
Yes your last sentence does have some good weight to it and pretty much the crux of all this
Bogs Beverly Beasley from Utah can all expire into a max next year; or be resigned if the fits good
The value of the 27′ unprotected might be near 3 expiring’s (themselves) from Utah for RW . All non All stars albeit good players just for the reason you put down in your last sentence alone, let alone the future
If there was ever a time for Jeanie not to be cheap it’s now; I’m not 100% confident she realizes that today tho
I think Bogdanovic is worth more than that on his own, and Beverley himself is also worth an asset
Why dont you just do lebron for kd straight up. Lebron gets to play with kyrie like he wants and kd gets 2 superstars one that hes played with already. Nets have very good shooters and would support lebron while nets get rid of crybaby kd.
Lebron would also be able to somewhat contain kyries hippy philosophy. (Since hes lived in LA the past few years lol)
You really think kd want to play with Russ? Look how fast he ran from Russ when he had the first chance. He ain’t going to run back to Russ
Do you think the nets care? He signed a 4 year extension just to request a trade why would the nets care if he wants to play with russ or not? Would you care if you were sean marks?
Wasn’t that the whole point in the Nets trading for RW? Weren’t they trying to get KD to stay by trading for him? I didn’t get it either. Lol
Great ideas from Woj, if you can’t get the big name star in Kyrie then you have to have a back up plan.
The idea of Pat Beverly plus other role player, salary matching fillers would actually be a solid return.
Knicks: Donovan Mitchell
Jazz: Russ, Obi Toppin, Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickly, Max Christie and 6 firsts (5 from Knicks and 1 from Lakers)
Lakers: Pat Beverly, Bojan Bogdanovic and Evan Fouriner
Jazz get all the young players and picks they want plus Russ on a huge expiring contract. Knicks get the guy they want and also get rid of Fouriner while only having to give up 5 firsts and not 6. Lakers get back a bunch of good role players and get rid of Russ and it only cost them 1 first round pick.
Knicks line up something like
Brunson Mitchell Barrett Randle Robinson
Bench: DRose Grimes Reddish Hartenstein Sims
(Extra roster spots to fill)
Lakers line up something like
Beverly Fouriner Bron AD Tristan Thompson*
Bench: Nunn THT Johnson Bojan Bryant
Reserves: Walker JTA Reaves Brown Jr Jones
Jazz go rebuild and don’t play Russ (possibly even buy him out of his contract).
Why would the Jazz and Knicks do this? That’s 3 quality players instead of just DM and the Jazz only essentially get Obi Toppin for Beverly and Bojan? They only get 1 first round pick for taking on RW huge salary and giving the Lakers Fournier?
The Knicks are essentially paying what the Jazz are asking but including Fournier. Is that a salary dump for them?
What?
Jazz only have 15 roster spots and at current have DM, Conley, Clarkson, Beverly, Beasley, NAW, Bolmaro, Butler, Gay, Bojan, Vanderbilt, Kessler and Azuikike which makes 13.
If they give up DM and receive back Toppin, McBride, Quickly, Christie and Russ that means they would have to get rid of 2 more players to get back to 15.
Those two players would be Beverly and Bojan.
How do you get it in your head they give up 3 for only Toppin (1). You then say they are giving up Fouriner who they don’t have?
It’s pretty simple, Jazz and Knicks are discussing a deal for DM and the Jazz wanted Toppin, McBride and 6 firsts in return but obviously that doesn’t comply with the salary rules. Jazz would have to revive back a contract/contracts that a basically equal with Donovan’s. The knicks also didn’t want to lose 6 first round draft picks and hence a break in negotiations.
The lakes get involved cause they are willing to give up a massive expiring contract and a first round pick in order to take back excess players. Jazz would need to offload players to get back to 15 so it makes sense.
If the knicks were to give up Fouriner for salary matching then the Jazz would be taking back his 3 years 20mik a season contract (60mil total). Whereas if they were to just take back Russ he’s only on a 1 year 47mil contract. Not only would they save money but he would be gone sooner which is what you want on a rebuilding team.
Essentially the Knicks are meeting the Jazz demands except save themselves a first round pick and get to offload Evan Fouriner contract. (Double positive) The Jazz revive the young players they want plus more and they revive the amount of draft picks they want and instead of being tied to a long term deal for Fouriner get an expiring deal (I see that as a positive for them) and obviously the Lakers get 3 good role players for Russ at the expense of only 1 first round pick.
Win win win situation
Only a Laker fan would think that is a good deal. Wouldn’t the jazz just take lakers out of it and not need to waste $47 million on Westbrook? Knicks would be paying everything on the trade.
Knicks don’t want to give up 6 firsts and Jazz shouldn’t want to take back Fourniers deal. Plus Jazz would be left with to many players and need to cut guys in order to make the deal anyway
I have a lot of the same moving parts and have speculated all 3 coming together as well making it easier (Since Jazz is just a dump site neways)
Fourn Rose Beasley all could be arranged around the 15 mill range, lotta parts but makes it actually easier on all 3 teams to accomplish there goals- I think Lakers rather get Rose or Beasley on that 3rd player match rather than Fourn as that lines them up super well next free agency but yea lotta moving parts
Good post Russ
Arc- Go listen to more WOJO my man, the Jazz could care less about 2023 if they trade DM- Worse the better in fact, this is first day of class stuff here
I included Fouriner for two reasons, 1 the money he’s got the biggest and longest contract and Lakers aren’t really in the strongest position to negotiate on getting someone better. Then secondly on court fit. My starting 5 as above would be Beverly Fouriner Bron AD and Tristan Thompson.
Fouriner would be the perfect fit for a bunch of reasons. He’s a very high IQ player, makes the right decisions, knows when to make the pass and where too. He’s capable of creating his own shot or helping create for others. He’s efficient as a third/fourth option and he knows his role. Overall I think in comparison to Malik Beasley he would just be better for this team.
Yea totally hear ya
Lakers would shoot for Beasley or Rose which would give them a max space for next year (24′) –
I agree Forn would be a good fit for LA but he’d still be the 3rd wheel (Rose Beasley Fourn) all 3 teams didn’t want to end up with after the music went off for matching purposes w the extra year. Not saying it wouldn’t be LAL but they’d shoot for the other 2 if possible. Utah really is where he should end up as they shouldn’t covet too much space for 2024 today as it looks like a deep deep build
But yea all the nuts and bolts there for this 3 teamer- Have to believe Lakers 27 unprotected is prolly valued highest by Danny (and a team like the Jazz ) currently if DM does go to NYK . Id roll out a unprotected for Bogs Bev and 3rd player today (hopefully Beasley) if I was Jeanie
** I like your Tt idea but they have 1 space open currently- A 3-1 would have to include Wenyen Gabriel justy to get it eligible- If Stanley gets slipped in they’d have a spot but not much value in TT over Stanley Imo
I like Thomas Bryant and Damian Jones already as well at C on the cheap
So my deal would be
NYK- DM+ Wenyen Gabriel 31 mill in
Lakers- Bogs Bev Beasley (3B’s) – 48 mill in
Utah fills the salary w Westbrook Fourn Cam Toppin McBride – Perfect match $ Wise (Utah even saves a couple mill here (3.8) by my calculations (spotrac))
Utah gets 7 firsts with the Lakers unprotected and either no protections /or small protections or a combo of both on all NYK’s own picks
Agree all 3 teams walk away happy. Fourns mid range salary actually helps Utah make deals over NeXT summer etc opening up more dumps/rebuilding or if they want to acquire offers some salary match on an expiring (doubtful but gives options) I always liked this route opposed to the OKC Kemba b/o dumps that OKC prefers/ more options for Danny to sift thru and pounce if he see’s an opening in the market
* Lakers could throw Christie to Jazz as well to take Fourn over Beasley if its a hang up and they like Christie
Your on the mark here tho with everything well done