Russell Westbrook Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Rumors: Trades, Beal, Davis, Westbrook, LeBron, FAs

November 11th, 2022 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

With the Lakers off to a 2-9 start this season and no signs that a turnaround is imminent, VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and the team’s front office face a difficult decision, according to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

As Haynes outlines, the Lakers must decide whether to continue pushing their chips into the middle of the table by making more win-now trades this season or whether they’d be better off waiting until the 2023 offseason to pursue major moves.

Waiting until next summer would mean Russell Westbrook‘s $47MM+ expiring contract would no longer be on the team’s books. It would also put the Lakers in position to trade an additional draft pick, since they could move their 2023 first-rounder (once the Pelicans exercise their swap rights) after the pick has been made.

However, LeBron James has a finite number of high-level seasons left and doesn’t want to waste a year waiting for reinforcements, sources tell Haynes. Other core players on the roster would also prefer the team to make win-now moves, Haynes adds.

As has been reported repeatedly throughout the offseason and into the season, the Lakers don’t want to move their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks in a deal that doesn’t significantly improve their chances of contending for a title. According to Haynes, there’s not a universal belief within the club’s front office that acquiring Myles Turner and Buddy Hield from the Pacers would move the needle to that degree.

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The Lakers are “known to covet” Bradley Beal, according to Haynes. However, the Wizards guard just signed a five-year contract with the team that includes a full no-trade clause, so he’d have to ask out of Washington for L.A. – or any other team – to have a shot at him.
As Jovan Buha reported earlier this week, the Lakers aren’t considering trading Anthony Davis, Haynes confirms. However, Haynes hears from sources that the team has received more calls about Russell Westbrook as of late — those talks haven’t advanced beyond the initial stages though.
LeBron James, who was diagnosed with a left adductor strain, has been ruled out for Friday’s game vs. Sacramento, and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter video link via The Rally) hears that James is expected to miss Sunday’s game vs. Brooklyn too. After Sunday, the team is off until next Friday.
In the same video clip, Charania also reports that free agent wings Joe Wieskamp and Tony Snell recently worked out for the Lakers, whose .293 3PT% ranks last in the NBA.

Spurs Rumors: Poeltl, Richardson, McDermott, Jones, Wright

November 9th, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs haven’t been discussing trades with teams around the NBA since around the time Joshua Primo was waived and word of his alleged misconduct first broke, according to LJ Ellis of SpursTalk.com.

Ellis speculates that management may have its handful dealing with the fallout of the Primo situation, and wonders if an unexpectedly strong start in San Antonio may have the team feeling more inclined to stand pat and see how the current group performs.

Before they shut down trade talks, the Spurs had been seeking two lightly protected first-round picks in exchange for center Jakob Poeltl, a first-round pick for swingman Josh Richardson, and “positive value” for sharpshooting forward Doug McDermott, Ellis reports.

A source tells Ellis that the Lakers and Spurs discussed a possible swap involving Richardson, McDermott, and Russell Westbrook, but Los Angeles had only been willing to attach a pair of second-round picks to Westbrook, so those talks didn’t gain any momentum. Westbrook would have been waived or bought out if the Spurs acquired him, Ellis adds.

Here’s more on the Spurs from Ellis:

A Western Conference scout who spoke to Ellis believes the Spurs will remain quiet on the trade market this season and wait until next summer to consider any more major moves. “With that (Primo) mess, the Spurs are going to try to stay competitive,” the scout said. “There’s no way they risk looking even more dysfunctional than they already look over there.”
According to Ellis, the Spurs have zero interest in trading Tre Jones, who has taken over as the team’s starting point guard after Dejounte Murray was dealt to Atlanta. Spurs insiders say Jones is a “natural leader and an effective communicator,” Ellis writes.
Spurs general manager Brian Wright has come under fire after a lawsuit filed by one of Primo’s accusers painted him as slow to respond to her allegations when they were reported to him. However, a source close to the Spurs tells Ellis that Wright isn’t in danger of being fired and insisted that the Primo situation was “handled with great care and concern.”

Lakers Notes: Trades, Ham, Roster, Davis, James

November 8th, 2022 at 10:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Are the Lakers holding out for a big move? Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated said on “The Crossover NBA Show” that they’re hoping for a “bigger piece to come loose” in a deal involving Russell Westbrook and their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks (hat tip to Peter Dewey of LakersDaily.com). Beck didn’t reveal the specific player that the front office may be targeting but says it’s not Kyrie Irving or the Pacers’ package of Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.

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First-year coach Darvin Ham says there’s not much the front office can do in terms of trades or a free agent signing because of financial constraints and the fact they’ve already used the mid-level exception, (Twitter video link). “Were a tax offender, right? Just can’t go out and start spending money everywhere to build a team,” Ham said. “We have three first-ballot Hall of Famers that a chunk of our budget is being spent on and there’s only so much left.”
The Lakers’ roster shortcomings are inescapable, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register notes. They own the worst offense rating in the league and their defense has regressed in recent games. Lonnie Walker IV and Troy Brown are the only newcomers who have made a positive impact, according to Goon, while free agent additions Thomas Bryant and Dennis Schröder haven’t played due to injury.
Many people around the league are enjoying the Lakers’ front office’s struggles and one executive interviewed by Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett declared “there’s no more championships” on the horizon. “Look where they are now and tell me when the hell they’re going to have a chance to compete for a championship again,” the executive said.
Anthony Davis (lower back tightness) and LeBron James (left foot soreness) are listed as probable for Wednesday’s game against the Clippers, Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets.

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Westbrook, M. Brown, Wall

November 4th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors‘ road trip, which began last Saturday in Charlotte, has been a disaster so far. Golden State has dropped consecutive road games to the Hornets, Pistons, Heat, and Magic and is now just 3-6 on the season. Recognizing that something needs to be done to jump-start the defending champions, head coach Steve Kerr said after Thursday’s loss in Orlando that rotation changes are likely coming, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.

“We’ve had nine games now, so we’ve had a decent look at combinations. It’s time to try something different,” Kerr said. “Everybody’s gonna get a chance to play. We’ve got guys who are dying to get on the floor, and we’ve got to find combinations that play. We will look at that as a staff.”

As Andrews points out, the Warriors’ starters haven’t been a problem so far this season — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney have outscored opponents by 60 points during their time on the floor, the best point differential of any five-man group in the NBA. However, things have generally gone downhill when the starters begin to check out of the game.

Kerr and the Warriors will get an opportunity to try to figure things out without their stars available on Friday. As Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter links) relays, the team is resting Curry (right elbow soreness), Thompson (Achilles injury management), Wiggins (left foot soreness), and Green (lower back injury management) on the second night of a back-to-back.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Bringing Russell Westbrook off the bench has “undeniably unlocked” the best version of the former MVP, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, who argues that the move could even change the course of the Lakers’ season. As Buha tweets, coach Darvin Ham said after Wednesday’s win that one of his goals is to get Westbrook into the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year, which signals that he doesn’t plan to move the point guard back into the starting five anytime soon.
Clippers two-way center Moses Brown had his best game of the season in Wednesday’s win in Houston, racking up 13 points and seven rebounds in just 12 minutes. However, an increased role for Brown may not be a long-term solution to the second unit’s struggles, since head coach Tyronn Lue wants to get more production out of the team’s small, center-less lineups, writes Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.
Although John Wall is considered one of the Clippers‘ veteran leaders, his situation is different than it was in Houston, when he was a mentor to a very young roster, says Law Murray of The Athletic. “We have so many veteran guys here, so I don’t think they need no mentoring,” Wall said, adding that he’s still willing to help out young players like Brown, Brandon Boston Jr., and Moussa Diabate if they have questions for him.

Heat Notes: Spoelstra, Herro, Westbrook, Strus

October 31st, 2022 at 9:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes the team will soon solve its offensive issues after losing five of its first seven games, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. The fact that they play six of the next seven games at home should help the Heat fix their problems.

“We’re closer than we are further away from it,” Spoelstra said. “But when you add losses to it, sometimes it can feel like you’re far away. But we’re not that far away.”

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The issue regarding Tyler Herro is not whether he’s worthy of a starting role but rather if he’s better off as a sixth man, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines. What the Heat have gotten so far from Herro is a player still finding his way in that role. Herro is averaging 19.9 points and 2.9 assists in seven starts, compared to 20.7 points and 4.0 assists last season while playing the same number of minutes.
Trading Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson to the Lakers for Russell Westbrook wouldn’t make any sense, given that the franchise is always focused on going deep in the playoffs, Winderman writes in a separate story. While Westbrook’s $47MM contract would come off the books next summer, that would only ease luxury tax concerns rather than opening up significant cap space.
Max Strus is headed for free agency next offseason and he’ll get a huge bump in salary wherever he winds up. A mid-level taxpayer deal is a likely scenario, according to an executive interviewed by Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney. Strus says he’s not sweating the details. “If you get caught up in that stuff, it affects your play so I try not to think about it. I just do my best and put myself in a position for good things to happen,” he said.

Lakers Notes: Westbrook, Ham, Mikan, Beverley

October 31st, 2022 at 7:56am CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers picked up their first victory of the season on Sunday night, and Russell Westbrook may have finally won over the L.A. fans, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. In his second game coming off the bench, Westbrook seemed to fully embrace the role, posting 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and displaying more energy and confidence than he has in a long time.

Westbrook also looked like an effective complement to LeBron James, who scored 26 points, and Anthony Davis, who had 23 points and 15 rebounds, giving the Lakers the Big Three they envisioned when they traded for Westbrook in the summer of 2021.

The performance was enough to get the fans on Westbrook’s side, helping to change an atmosphere that has gotten so bad that at one point he asked his family to stop coming to home games. There was plenty of support for Westbrook Sunday night, and the crowd responded when he urged them to stand up and cheer while Davis was at the free throw line.

“I love seeing my teammates flourish, honestly,” Westbrook said. “I get a joy by seeing others do great. My whole career, what lifts me up is to see others do well. And tonight was that night to see guys making shots, competing and that’s all you can ask for.”

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When Darvin Ham was hired as head coach during the summer, he promised to unlock the best version of Westbrook, Goon adds, and Sunday’s game suggests that moving him to a reserve role was the right call. “One of the biggest things about me getting this job was for him to get that respect that he deserved because a lot of what went on last year was not his fault, and everything, all of the blame, was placed on him,” Ham said. “And so I told him, ‘Man, just listen to me. Believe in me, bro. I’m gonna put you in a position to succeed with the group. But you have to put the group first. It can’t be about me or I or mine. It’s gotta be us, ours, we.’ And he’s done that.”
The Lakers retired number 99 on Sunday in honor of George Mikan, the NBA’s first star center, Goon states in a separate story. Mikan never played in Los Angeles, but he led the franchise to five championships in Minneapolis.
The NBA has issued a warning to Patrick Beverley for violating its anti-flopping rule (Twitter link). The league’s announcement included a video of the play in question, which happened Friday against the Timberwolves.

Lakers Notes: Westbrook, Davis, Ham, LeBron

October 29th, 2022 at 5:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers were encouraged by Russell Westbrook‘s performance off the bench Friday night, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. It’s a role that new head coach Darvin Ham talked to Westbrook about during the offseason, and he decided to make the move after the team’s sluggish start.

Westbrook turned in his best game of the season, delivering 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes. However, his shooting woes continued as he hit just 6-of-17 from the field and 5-of-10 from the foul line and he turned the ball over five times.

“From Day 1, I mentioned I’m the guy that’s willing to do whatever for the team,” said Westbrook, who hadn’t been used as a reserve since his rookie season. “I’ll sacrifice whatever it is that needs to be sacrificed — parts of my game that I’ve done for years to accommodate whatever it is that the coach needs me to do, and I’ll continue to do that.”

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Anthony Davis sat out his first game of the season Friday due to lower back tightness, McMenamin adds. While it doesn’t sound like a serious injury, there are always concerns with any physical ailment involving Davis, who has played just 40 and 36 games the past two seasons. “He has to do what’s best for his body,” LeBron James said. “He has to do what’s best for his body and his mind. If his mind is gone, then everything else will fall to the wayside. So he has to trust himself. Yes, he wants to play every game. Yes, he wants to be out there for our team. But he’s had a lot of bumps and bruises over the last few years, so he has to trust himself, trust his staff and not put his body in harm’s way.”
After L.A. dropped to 0-5, Ham joked with reporters about the team’s lack of offense, per Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Asked if Lonnie Walker can become the “third scorer” in the starting lineup, Ham responded, “I mean, we welcome any and all scorers, whether they’re third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh. If you can score, we’ll work you out tomorrow.”
The Lakers ended Friday’s game with James at center, trying to create a mismatch with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, Goon notes. James indicated that he doesn’t expect to see much time in the middle, explaining that Ham is experimenting with different combinations. “We’re just trying to find what works right now, to be honest,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the floor. We’re just trying to find what works, who can give us the best chance to win a ballgame.”

Lakers’ Anthony Davis Out Friday With Back Tightness

October 28th, 2022 at 5:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Lakers big man Anthony Davis will miss Friday’s game at Minnesota with lower back tightness, the team announced (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin).

Davis was considered a game-time decision leading up to the contest. He was able to participate in the team’s Friday shootaround, but he has now been ruled out.

According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link), Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said back issues are “tricky” because Davis felt fine Friday morning, but Ham implied he may have slept on it wrong and tweaked it. However, Ham is hopeful that it will be a one-game absence.

“We feel good about him being available the next game,” Ham said. The Lakers’ next game is Sunday vs. Denver, followed by Wednesday vs. New Orleans.

As Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times tweets, the Lakers also announced that Russell Westbrook (left hamstring) and LeBron James (left foot soreness) are available for Friday’s game against the Wolves.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier today that Ham planned to bring Westbrook off the bench against Minnesota, but that was contingent upon Davis playing. However, Wojnarowski tweets that the Lakers still plan to transition Westbrook to a reserve play-making role — it just might be temporarily postponed due to Davis’ absence.

For his part, Ham said he was undecided on whether Westbrook would start tonight, per Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group (via Twitter).

Davis, an eight-time All-Star, has struggled with various injuries throughout his career, but particularly the past two seasons. From 2020-22, Davis only appeared in 76 of a possible 154 games.

The Lakers are still looking for their first win of the season, and now they’ll be without the former No. 1 overall pick for at least one game. Davis is averaging 24.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.3 blocks on .527/.182/.762 shooting through four games (35.0 minutes per contest).

Lakers Expected To Bring Russell Westbrook Off Bench

October 28th, 2022 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers are expected to bring Russell Westbrook off the bench when he returns to action following a hamstring-related absence, allowing him to be the primary play-maker for the team’s second unit, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

Westbrook, who missed Wednesday’s game in Denver, was originally listed as questionable for Friday’s contest in Minnesota, but has since been upgraded to probable, tweets Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group.

Anthony Davis continues to be listed as questionable for Friday due to low back tightness and is considered a game-time decision. If Davis misses the game, that could keep Westbrook in the starting lineup, Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter).

However, Davis did participate in the Lakers’ Friday shootaround. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link), the team used a starting five of Davis, LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker, and Damian Jones during that shootaround.

The Lakers attempted to bring Westbrook off the bench in their preseason finale two weeks ago, but the experiment lasted just five minutes before he left the game due to a hamstring injury. The former MVP later said that he thought not being in the starting lineup was a factor in his injury, since he didn’t have the same pregame routine he has grown accustomed to.

Still, it sounds like the Lakers and head coach Darvin Ham still believe the idea of Westbrook joining the second unit has merit. Even if it doesn’t happen on Friday, it appears L.A. will try it again sooner or later — if it works, the team intends to stick with it for the foreseeable future, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Pacific Notes: Murray, Powell, George, Lakers

October 26th, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rookie forward Keegan Murray has already won a spot in the Kings‘ starting lineup, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Coach Mike Brown made the announcement after today’s practice that Murray will replace KZ Okpala for Thursday’s game against the Grizzlies.

Murray, the No. 4 pick in this year’s draft, has made a strong impression early in his NBA career. He’s averaging 17.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in his first two games while shooting 54.2% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range. The new starting unit of Murray, De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes and Domantas Sabonis has only played 11 minutes together, but it has a plus/minus rating of plus-55.3.

“I think it helps us tremendously,” Fox said. “When he gets on the floor, you feel the spacing increase. When you have somebody like Draymond (Green) not trying to help off of you, that’s the ultimate respect, so I think everybody in the league pretty much knows what he can do, and he can help us, not only with shooting, but just with his entire package.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Clippers swingman Norman Powell isn’t panicking about seeing so many of his shots misfire, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Powell has gotten off to an unusually slow start, ranking second-worst in the league in effective field goal percentage and drawing shooting fouls about half as often as he did last season. “I think I’ve just got to relax a little bit and kind of let the game come to me and make the plays that are in front of me, not just for myself but for the team,” Powell said. “I’ll go back, continue to watch film, continue to find ways where I can be better not just scoring the ball but offensively, defensively, moving the ball, playing for others and continue just to grind.”
Paul George insists that Kawhi Leonard is the team’s primary scoring option, but Law Murray of The Athletic believes George may have to accept that role for the Clippers to be successful. With Leonard working his way back from surgery for a partially torn ACL, there are going to be many nights when George has to carry the scoring load.
The Lakers are already at a critical point in their season and need to make a move with Russell Westbrook, argues Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Mannix recommends calling the Pacers and completing the rumored deal that would send Westbrook and unprotected first-rounders in 2027 and 2029 to Indiana in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.