The Lakers and Jazz have had some exploratory discussions about a trade involving veteran point guard Russell Westbrook, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.
Although Westbrook has adjusted nicely to a sixth man role this season and hasn’t been cited as trade rumors nearly as often as he was during the offseason, he has “remained available” for trade, according to Haynes.
The recent acquisition of Rui Hachimura has given the Lakers a “renewed sense of confidence,” but there’s a belief within the organization that the club needs to make at least one more roster move before the February 9 trade deadline to give itself a real shot at contention, Haynes says.
It’s possible such a move could involve Westbrook, though Patrick Beverley remains a trade candidate as well. According to Haynes, the Lakers are in communication with many teams around the NBA as they consider the most favorable trade scenarios available to them.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the Lakers and Jazz having a conversation about Westbrook. The two teams reportedly engaged in discussions last offseason, with Los Angeles exploring a deal that would’ve sent Westbrook and draft assets to Utah in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic and others.
Bogdanovic was traded to Detroit instead, but the Jazz still have several veterans on eight-figure salaries who could appeal to L.A., including Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers also remain interested in Bogdanovic as they scour the market in search of outside shooting help, Haynes confirms, though there’s skepticism about whether the Pistons will actually move the veteran forward before the deadline.
Westbrook’s $47MM+ cap hit makes him a tricky player to move, but if the Lakers remain open to dealing him, there are other possibilities they could explore.
According to John Hollinger of The Athletic, one popular trade idea that has made the rounds as of late is Westbrook and the Lakers’ 2027 and 2029 first-round picks to the Raptors for a package headlined by Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. However, Hollinger stresses that the Raptors/Westbrook proposal has been “fairly heavily trafficked in theory despite little evidence that it’s been discussed in reality.”
Idk who the lakers are going to get who is better then the 6th man of the year. Westbrook has been an asset that they will miss if traded
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
As long as it means we get better with 3pt shooting and defensively let’s do it. It’s pretty safe to say that Russ won’t be back next season so we might as well make a move if it makes us better. I don’t want to get saddled with other bad contracts moving forward just to shuffle deck.
Beasley Vanderb and Conley for RW one 1st pick, maybe with high protections and fillers.
I don’t know why the Jazz would have any interest in that deal.
Singe wants the draft picks.
Vanderbilt himself is worth a top-10 protected pick
Taking Westbrook contract is an unprotected First
Lmao….It will be conley,gay,alexander walker for rw and 2 unprotected 1sts…
lo———-l
Far enough into the year to face the facts that you are eating all of that $47MM. If you’ve already paid for the potential 6th M.O.Y, why ship him your 2 first rounders for negligible short term help that may or may not get you a play-in? C’mon Rob, ask LeBron for permission to go with what you have, then re-tool.
You have a good point
It’s not worth to trade 2 Firsts for short term help
The trade would help the Lakers to make playoffs this year
These comments crack me up. If one has actually watched Westbrook night in and night out you would see that he is not an asset and on fact doesn’t have that great of a BB IQ.
The problem is LeBron putting pressure on Lakers to trade for players. Laker owner would rather play out the contract and save their draft picks. Westbrook is a bench player that can score but plays no defense.
New talks? Or just a reminder that the two sides previously had exploratory talks on RW at some point. It is 6 days to the deadline. RW’s value to UTH hasn’t likely changed much (even if his value to the LAL has).
Westbrook brings negative value to the Lakers. His high turnover rate and his poor shot selection (at the worst times almost every game) offsets anything that he might actually do correct in the court. His only value to any other team is the draft pick (s) the Lakers sending along in a trade.
His contract does have negative value, even to the LAL, but less than it did when it appeared his mere presence on the team might prove untenable. For UTH, his value is the same, he’s an expiring deal which can allow them to get off a bad contract of their own next year. The picks attached would of course be the real value for UTH in a trade.
Both Conley and Vanderbilt have partial guarantees for next year (about $15 million combined), while Beasley is completely a team option.
If Utah wants to save money, they can by getting rid of the three of them. Yeah, they wouldn’t get some distance 1st round pick, but how many of those does Utah need? They already are getting several from Minnesota and Cleveland.
Utah wants to shed Conley’s contract for next year. If the Lakers make a trade for Beasley too they would probably throw in a 1st round draft pick. Now you made your future tougher and no money to sign FA next year.
Rumor
Nuggets offer Hyland, KCP and 2029 First for OG
IMO,
Lakers can offer a future First, Beverley and small salary guys for Hyland and KCP.
Toronto will not be trading VanVleet to the Lakers at the trade deadline. That is a move they can make in the offseason, and still extract the same assets from the Lakers in a sign-and-trade.
If Fred does hit the free agent market. He will be a Los Angeles Laker.
Westbrook and two firsts, for Kyrie and Joe Harris (Any salary filler needed would ve a veteran).
Kyrie doesn’t warrant two.firsts, nor Even.one, for Westbrook. But it’s more the Lakers surrenerring extra picks.
Lebron now has Kyrie, and KD reunites with RW.come on Pelinka and Marks, pull the trigger